Whispers about Angels
by miarath
Summary: What if Cloud didn't have Geostigma in Advent Children but something else? Something else that made him distance himself from his friends? So, maybe he wasn't that much of a failure like Hojo thought... CloudxSephiroth/SephirothxCloud - currently being rewritten
1. Prequel

**Whispers about Angels**

_A myth they were, _

_a remnant of something_

_not of this world,_

_something other._

_They came from the heavens, _

_skies so far away_

_a long long time ago_

_Some called them angel,_

_but others called them nightmare, _

_a Calamity of the Skies_

_that threatened to destroy_

_everything..._

A Final Fantasy VII fanfic, AC AU.

by Miarath

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**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII and all its characters belong to Square-Enix and I'm just borrowing them for fun. No profit is made with this fic.

**Pairings:** SephirothxCloud/CloudxSephiroth, maybe more.

**Warnings:** shonen-ai, yaoi or slash, bad language at times, some spoilers for AC, very much AU, mpreg in latter chapters (with explanation of course).

**Summary:**

What if Cloud didn't have Geostigma in Advent Children but something else? Something else that made him distance himself from his friends? So, maybe he wasn't that much of a failure like Hojo thought.

* * *

**Thin Ice**

_Sometimes, sanity was ..._

_just like a blanket of thin ice._

_And just like the ice, it could dissolve _

_into nothing in the blink of an eye,_

_so very easily._


	2. Beginnings

_Whispers about Angels, chapter one._

_For disclaimer see Prequel. No special warnings for this chapter._

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**Beginnings**

* * *

_Somewhere in the Lifestream …_

Something stirred, moving now where there had been no movement previously. The voices were muttering in uproar about this sudden change, a low humming where there had been silence before. It was like when people entered a forest and thus alarming the birds in the trees there, but then again it wasn't like that at all, cause these voices weren't alarmed or upset. They were mostly excited that something was finally happening, cause this place could be rather boring most of the time.

Then voices stopped, very much like those birds would do after they realized that there was no immediate danger, but listening for anything that would disturb the current peace – and someone finally woke from blissful non-sleep to slightly confused awareness. He thought that he had heard a voice calling him, waking him but whatever it had been, it wasn't here right now.

The tall man blinked, once, twice slowly regaining consciousness once again.

Sephiroth arched an elegantly formed silver brow then frowned, realizing that he had a body once again, but it didn't feel quite real to him. He also realized that that place surrounding him wasn't anything he remembered ever seeing before, but he had a feeling that it could be only be part of the Lifestrem, if he recalled correctly what happened before his 'sleep' here.

He thought, he had ... been waiting here, waiting for Mother to call him back to her again, but it hadn't been her voice that woke him. He was sure that this voice wasn't hers, even if it sounded almost like hers, yet he failed to place it correctly. Where had he heard this voice before?

No, he decided, he didn't remember this voice, but it reminded him of someone he knew ... from before, from before he joined mother, before the anger there had been something else. There had been smiles and teasing in an otherwise cold place, he thought with sudden unease then pushed the feeling away, thinking that there had been simply no choice. It wasn't quite right, but his not-quite awake mind couldn't come up with any other explanation; maybe he didn't want to.

The voice, it had to be as powerful as hers if it managed to reach him here, practically waking him from the death, because of the last thing he remembered was the acid burn of Mako then nothing.

So, this had to be the Lifestream, afterlife, limbo or whatsoever it was called. Yes, it couldn't be anything than that with all the colours swirling around – too ethereal to be real, but more than real at the same time.

There was nothing around him that could give him any clue to where the call had come from, but some vague feeling of direction, which did not really exist in this place. He didn't know why, but somehow he was sure that such mundane things had little influence here.

Yet, it definitely pulled him somewhere, and it was growing stronger, almost like a heartbeat, a strong, soothing heartbeat – a little hypnotic like a big drum.

He decided to follow it, even if only out of curiosity about its nature, but somehow he knew it was more than that, even if he didn't know exactly what that more was but ... it simply was.

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XXX

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_An exile ends ..._

"So, this is how it ends," Lucrecia murmured to herself in a voice that was rough from not being used in a long time, which went unnoticed to her, because her whole focus was on the task at hand, of leaving her self-afflicted prison. Doing so, she reached out for the seal, the materia, which confirmed her to the cave, locked her in and Jenova's voice out.

Only it hadn't quite worked as planned out in the long run, for while it did lock out the Calamity's voice, it hadn't done anything about the voices of the Lifestream, the Cetra and most of all the Planet itself.

She frowned in concentration, because it was harder than she had thought it would be. Maybe it was because she never had planned for it to be deactivated when she had put into place all those years ago. For a little while nothing happened and the seal remained as it was, but then she managed to deactivate the materia in one quick move. She smiled at it, feeling glad that she still could manage this after such a long time.

Stepping outside, the ex-scientist stared above, at the stars, shimmering through the water that covered everything. She was thankful that the underwater materia still worked as it should and smiled thoughtful at how deceivingly peaceful everything looked around her. A smile that turned into a grimace, because of the noise around was overwhelming, having her to put her hands over her ears in an helpless attempt to stifle them.

It wasn't working, because the noise wasn't just coming from the material world around her, but the voices that seemed to torture her ever since they forced her out of her hibernation state. It made no sense since she wasn't an Ancient, yet she somehow knew that she was hearing the planet, Gaia, calling out to her, forcing her out of her isolation to make amends for her sins of omission, of having allowed Hojo to use her and her son the way he had.

Now, the voices had gotten even more intense, the very one that had her leave the cave in the first place, were seemingly in uproar about something, something she failed to understand for now, but one thing was clear as day that something needed to be done – and that she needed to hurry.

Thought, things would be much easier, if the voices would tell her exactly what needed to be done, but no, that wasn't happening. No, instead she just saw more images, accompanied with confused emotions. She couldn't help, but wonder if she was seeing things from the past, because she couldn't recognize anything in those pictures.

There was one thing she was certain, though, all of this had to do with Jenova, the Calamity from the skies, cause the voices were repeating it over and over again, together with something else, she couldn't quite understand.

The dreams drove her nearly insane, but it seemed there was nothing she could do to stop the voices from whispering, over and over again. Oh, she was sure, that it had to be something important, but where they whispering about angels now?

Why did the voices ask her to remember, to make them remember about … something that was long time in the past? Why was that important now?

Sighing, knowing that there would be no rest until she had done what the voices were saying, she left the cave. Lucrecia didn't know what direction, but neither did she worry about it.

The voices of the Lifestream would guide her where she needed to go. Voices in her head, which usually was a sure signs of her being insane – and maybe she was, but it didn't matter in this situation.

She was sure about that – not that she really had any other option in this matter, though. No, all she could do, was hope that things would turn out not too bad; that they would not end like her nightmares of old had always ended.

So, she went out for the first time in years, went out to do the thing she never thought she would ever do: infiltrating her former colleagues, those she knew, were still following Hojo's insane ideas of what science should be.

She did have no choice, of course, not against the will of the Planet – and the voices of all those Cetra that had perished to keep it safe.

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xox

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_Birds of a feather..._

One could said that it started with something little like an itch, but that would be only half of the truth, because there was more, because before the itch started there was lack of sleep, insomnia in other words.

He kept waking up somewhere during the night, went back to sleep only wake up a little later only to start the circle again, waking several times a night because of dreams that didn't want to leave him alone. Sure, he was used to weird dreams, being haunted by nightmares of his past, of memories that were too fractured for him to ever sort out, but these dreams … were different, not quite nightmares, not quite pleasant dreams. Worse thing was that he didn't remember any of them but some vague feeling left behind by them.

They left him with the nagging feeling of something important, like there was something he needed to do. Well, that was all good and well, only problem was that Cloud had no clue what he needed to do. All there was, was only a vague feeling that something wasn't right followed by a feeling of loss that made no sense at all.

Those dreams continued for a while, then vanished as suddenly as they had come – and a day later the itching started. At first it had been very weak, so he ignored it as best he could.

Cloud thought, no he hoped it was nothing to worry about, nothing serious at that – and he would have continued thinking like that, if not it returned and returned, night after night. He also couldn't ignore the fact that it began exactly at the same time they had found the first children, the first ones with that deadly plaque, Geostigma, they had started to call this disease not long after that.

And if he was honest, he had thought, feared, that it was Geostigma, but time after time proofed that wrong because all there ever was was a never ending itching and burning. It felt almost like his skin was too small for his body, but there were no dark markings on his skin nor was there any real pain.

No matter how often he reached back to scratch it, it never stopped itching, even when he ended up with a scratched and bloody back after it gotten to him at its worst. At that time he even went that far and tried a Full Cure on it, with little effect, if not any at all. It wasn't that he had expected it to work, but it just gotten to a point were he'd try almost anything to get rid of this annoying thing.

It just never stopped, day after day, night after night, which was bad enough – and it had him holing up once again, distancing him from his friends, because the longer this went on the more he felt like he … didn't belong.

Yes, that didn't made any sense because he knew he could trust his friends, but he just couldn't help feeling like this. Maybe he was panicking because, it was always coming from the same spot on his left shoulder blade, where the itching started, starting slowly then becoming stronger in a weird pulsing rhythm.

It's always his left shoulder ... left shoulder. Where had he heard something like this again? Yeah, something another SOLDIER had said to Zack, he remembered; almost against his will, like his mind was intend on showing him something no matter if he wanted to see it or not.

It wasn't even his one of his own memories, but one of Zack's – and not an pleasant one either.

* * *

"Ripples form on the water's surface.._." A melodic voice said. It belonged to a man Cloud had never seen for he had been already dead when he joined SOLDIER, but he remembered his name, Genesis Rhapsodos. This SOLDIER first surely had been a striking figure, but he couldn't help but just knew that there was something wrong about this man or was it was? Cloud wasn't really sure, but he couldn't help it but shiver while seeing something he recognized as insanity lurking in the SOLDIER's gaze. _

_This insanity felt different and yet so familiar at once. _

_The redhead smiled a rather bitter smile, which turned into a smirk right before he exposed a single large wing, much like a raven's, from his back. _

"_The arrow has left the Goddess bow..." The smile turned into a cruel smirk at those words._

_

* * *

_

Cloud wasn't sure what happened afterwards, because the memory stopped there, blanked out in a way that had him thinking that whatever followed this scene couldn't have been anything good. It felt like some kind of prelude to tragedy because of the pain that went with it, but why was he remembering this now?

"No," Cloud nearly choked at the memory, one of Zack's memories at that too, connecting Genesis' words with his own situation. It couldn't be, could it?

He could only hope it wasn't, because there was more to this memory than the wing. He knew that shortly after Genesis grew his wing he started to degrade, slowly drifting into madness while even further degrading, which was just another word for dying.

So, if this was something similar like Genesis' growing his wing, was he destined to go insane as well? His frown deepened and his hands turned to fists with denial and resistance.

No, he decided, what ever this might be, he would do his best to keep it under control. He blinked, noticing Tifa walking up to him. He was sure that she'd said something to him, something he hadn't heard while being preoccupied with his thoughts.

Tifa – and the children, he didn't want to place them into any danger he could avoid.

So Cloud did the only thing he thought he could: he left, even knowing that it would hurt her and the children, but he didn't see any other way out of this.

He stayed mostly in Aerith' old church, when he wasn't busy with any deliveries. Thankfully there were enough of the latter to distract him a little, even if it didn't stop him completely from thinking about his past – and what he remembered of it, which was still not very much. Thinking of the past his thoughts strayed to the Shinra Mansion and what they had managed to gather on information from them, about what had been done to him back all those years ago.

It made him shudder with emotion, so tangled up that he'd never be able to identify all of it, but no matter what he couldn't stop thinking about that, because it was the very reason for his current situation, which he strongly suspected was a growing wing.

Part of him really wanted to talk about this … thing, but he was afraid they wouldn't understand. Zack and Aerith were dead and out of his reach, Nanaki too innocent for his own good and none of the others ever had to go through the things he had to.

Well, maybe Vincent would understand, but he hesitated talking to the ex-turk, because he knew the man already had to bear more burdens than anyone should have. Well, there was also the fact that to be able to talk to him he needed to find him first, which wasn't an easy thing to do, cause Vincent only showed up when he wanted to – and not because Cloud willed him to do so.

He wished he could talk to Aerith, wishing that the Cetra would visit him the way she had done during the end of the Crisis, but she didn't. Well, there was nothing he could do about that, knowing this, he continued his usual schedule: doing his deliveries as needed and wandering around when he had nothing to deliver, unable to stay at any place for long.

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_Hope you enjoyed this chapter. _

_Mia_


	3. Puzzle Pieces

_Chapter two of Whispers about Angels. For disclaimer see prequel._

_**Warning: **Spoiler for AC  
_

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**Puzzle Pieces**

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During his travels Cloud came around quite a bit, mostly because he enjoyed travelling, but he wasn't sure about what exactly drove him to accept a delivery to Rocket Town, that close to Nibelheim. It was pretty far from Edge and he had to take the ship to get there or leave Fenrir behind, but he had been eager to leave the city for a while then, so he had accepted it as an way to get out of the place that seemed too much like a cage lately.

Whatever the reason, he found himself back at the Shinra Mansion soon after he had finished the delivery, a place he thought he'd never visit again. Then without further thought, he walked inside and even further down to the basement, almost like something was pulling him down there.

He didn't want to mull on that latter part, though, thinking that he would rather not know than know and not being able to fight it off.

Nothing new here, he noticed with an almost tired shrug that bordered on boredom, but when he turned around to go, he noticed something strange about the wall in front of him. Cloud frowned at it for a moment or two, then realized that it wasn't a wall at all, but a hidden door; a door that stood half-open now, letting light fall into the dark hall-way in front of it.

Carefully now, because he didn't know what to expect he opened it fully, then entered the room only to find the same things he had seen in the other rooms before: computers and laboratory equipment, including Mako that had been left behind. There was a stale smell in this room, which said that it hadn't been used in a very long time, yet, something was off. There were marks on the floor, spots were the dust had been pushed aside by somebody's feet.

Someone had to have been here not so long ago, he thought, because otherwise there would have been more dust on these traces – and one the computers were still running, filling the room in eerie light. There were also papers all over the desk in front of it, which made it look like someone had been searching for something and then left hastily or just didn't care if others would see the mess they had left behind.

Cloud took a closer look at the papers only to notice something that looked like strange spirals of a sort. It took him another moment to realize that he was looking at what could only be DNA with its spirals and base pairs.

He shivered, feeling uneasy about the abnormal setting of it. It felt like a trap – of sorts, especially if one knew that this place had been pretty abandoned for years now. No one used this lab any more; not since ShinRa had lost most of its power and influence. Although he was sure that they still watched this place, which didn't made much sense to him for it was much easier to just remove anything important than having to guard it against unwanted visitors in such a far off place like Nibelheim.

Cloud blinked, noting that the date of the paper was more than twenty five years in the past, before he had been born. A moment later the blonde's senses tingled with alarm, realizing what exactly this was about and more importantly to whom this file belonged to, cause there was a photo as well. It was bleached with age, but he still recognized the person on it.

He barely remembered her, but she had just enough resemblance with him that he couldn't be mistaken in this. She had blue eyes and spiky blonde hair like him after all, even if hers had been much longer.

Part of him was happy that he found this picture, but most part of him was filled with unease, thinking that nothing of his mother … should be here, this place, which had caused so much pain for so many people.

The information in the file didn't help much answering this question, for it only raised more questions at that. Something was very fishy about this, enough to think that the file was fake – part of him wished it was, but somehow he felt it was very real. For whatever reason they had a file about his mother here, for unknown reason. He frowned, trying to come up with an explanation that would make sense – but failed. His mother had been completely normal, despite the way the other residents had eyed them with disdain, but that had been mostly because they had been foreigners – and her mother a single mother with no husband to help her raise her only son. The latter had been a shame to the small town people of Nibelheim, even if it hadn't been exactly true. His mother, she had been married, but her husband had died before they had come here.

_So why was it here then?_

He didn't remember seeing this here ever before – and they had been rather thorough to clean up the mess that Hojo had left when Reeve the WRO founded and all. Maybe they had overlooked it or, more probably, someone had placed this here later, but why? For what purpose?

Maybe... There were too many of those, though; enough that he felt he didn't really want to think about them, because he didn't think that whatever the reasons they couldn't be anything good, not if they were connected to a place like this. Only he felt he couldn't leave these here either. It was far too suspicious for that.

Cloud shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, feeling like he was being watched somehow … but there was no-one here; he was sure. He eyed the room uncomfortably, trying to find anything odd about beside the running computer – then froze again after a few moments of searching.

There, he thought, forcing to keep a calm appearance, not letting on how unsettled he was by the whole thing. Too bad that he hadn't figured it out if yet, for all he wanted to tear it all in pieces and watch it burn. No, he couldn't do this right now, because he first needed to figure out what was behind this, knowing that he couldn't take anything he'd just seen to face value.

He went back to the desk and picked up the files that seemed most interesting to him, but didn't feel comfortable while doing that. Cloud shivered at this, because it was too close to what caused disaster all those years ago.

He didn't want to think of that … yet, he could never forget it either.

Sephiroth losing it, burning Nibelheim, him and Zack being taken in by Hojo ... then Zack's death when they had almost reached their goal, nearly reached Midgar.

Almost, it was always an almost … just like his failure to make SOLDIER then... just another almost, that didn't matter anymore, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt, because it certainly did.

It pained him, maybe more than Cloud ever wanted to admit; enough that he wished he could forget sometimes, but then felt guilty about even thinking that. He sometimes wondered how he had managed to survive that, even with someone like Zack to take care of him,to rescue him … finally die for him …

His friend had died then for him … because he, Cloud Strife hadn't been strong enough to not lose himself to the ever present Mako and the voices within. Those voices … he usually tried not to think about them, but right now he could not help '_but'_ remember them, those inhuman voices or had it been only one?

He didn't remember, only that things had been an endless nightmare of being surrounded by green; Mako had been his undoing, but it also had been salvation when he couldn't take it anymore, making everything just go … away – and not all of the voices had been exactly bad.

Some had felt kind of soothing, giving comfort were none had been available to him, yet it wasn't like he had been exactly able to really feel it, cause he had been too far gone by then.

Whatever, he definitely knew that a Mako tube was certainly the wrong place for any human being, not that Hojo cared, though. He doubted the good doctor cared much about anything but his precious theory, which made him a scientist through and through minus the human part of course.

Human, he didn't want to think about that, but he couldn't help notice that ever since that time there was a invisible barrier between him and the others.

But was he human? More often than not he found himself pondering that question these days, even knowing he shouldn't, cause that would only cause bad memories to wake once again.

"_Puppet," a ghostly voice purred, sweet poison in it, whispering promises and threats to him._

Just like then, Cloud could feel his back itching once again, stronger than ever before. It seemed to get worse with every day that went by, starting to feel more like something was moving _under_ his skin. He couldn't pretend that he wasn't afraid of it, but what could he do? Not really much, but endure it and hope that it'll stop sooner than later.

It burned and twisted, stretching right under his skin, like something wanted to break free out of the cage that was made of his skin. It was disturbing ... but the worst thing was something else; it was that part of this this felt completely natural somehow, like it was supposed to happen, like growing up, yes, that was it. It was the pain and itching of something, him, growing up, maturing to an adult, whatever that might mean with that terrible mix of Mako, Jenova and what else was in his veins. It was, feeling so wrong that it almost felt right, almost.

_Another almost..._

It felt almost right, no, not almost, in a twisted way … it felt disturbingly right, yet so obviously wrong because it shouldn't feel that way. Painful annoying, yes, but he couldn't help but feel that this was bound to happen somehow. Hojo had tried to make him into a Sephiroth-clone after all – and he knew from the bits of pieces he could find on the Jenova project and Zack's memory that all the others did develop wings at some point.

Maybe he really should try talking to Vincent, especially with the documents he found in the Mansion. Yet, he hesitated for unknown reasons. Cloud wasn't quite sure, why he did that, even while he knew that Vincent would be the only one he could trust with something like this; the only one, who could help him find out what this file was about.

_Maybe he would do that after he had thought about it a little while, maybe..._

He had been in thoughts for an unknown amount of time then, something he did far too often when travelling, first on the ship and then while riding back to Edge, but he found himself taking another all to familiar route; ending up where it all had began. The very place where his only friend had been ripped away from him.

Zack, Cloud thought painfully, wishing he were still alive and here with him so he could talk to him for real.

He reached out to the Buster Sword, gripping it like a drowning man would reach out for something to hold on … and maybe it was just that: the sword was an anchor that made him remember that the past was indeed real, even if it was very painful.

He breathed harshly, almost as if the air had turned stale and hard to breathe. Next he knew the familiar sight of Zack's last resting place … vanished to make room for a place he had never seen before.

Cloud blinked, once, twice but it did not change, although it felt strangely faint, almost like this were only a dream. No, he decided after few long moments later, it wasn't, couldn't be something so simple as that. The ground under his feet … felt solid and he could touch the plants and other things around him.

Still it didn't feel real somehow and yet, he was certain that it was indeed real, only not right now. He couldn't fight the feeling that he saw something that had happened a long long time ago, that he was seeing the past – but for what reason? He didn't know, only that there had to be some kind of reason behind this, even if he didn't understand it yet.

Cloud was curious even if the whole thing was … rather unnerving. He looked up to find that the surrounding rock formation looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite place it of what it reminded him. The stars above also looked like something, he had seen before, but not quite … right to him, like their positions were shifted to the right somehow; they were the same and yet not.

With another breath he realized that he wasn't alone, but there was a … blonde haired woman kneeling next to an unconscious man next to something that looked like shipwreck. It reminded him strangely of how the Highwind had looked after Cid had to do an emergency landing with all the metal parts and things that looked like broken machines lying all around.

Only none of them did have any wings then, not even Vincent, cause that crash hadn't been that bad to force Chaos to appear, but this man seemed to have wings, like a bird's or an angel's wings.

"Wings," Cloud thought, frowning at the thought, cause he couldn't help but think about Sephiroth and his single black wing. These wings were purely white, though, white besides something dark on them that looked like blood to him.

He tried to move but found that he had no body he could move, but he found out that he was like a bodiless ghost and could only watch but not touch anything in sight even if the soil under his feet still felt real in a way. Cloud did the only thing he could: he continued watching what was obviously a rescue action, although he could see that it wouldn't be very successful, because the weird man, that was if he could be called such, seemed more dead than alive.

Then something happened, while the man brought his hand to the woman's face, touching her forehead. There was a flash of something there, a weird glow that almost looked like lifestream, Cloud thought … then nothing – no, that was not quite right, there was loud irritating sound close by. At first he though he heard the woman screaming, but realized that it wasn't part of this vision he just experienced.

It was his PHS ringing, he realized, just as the vision vanished and he found himself back in the middle of nothing right out of old Midgar. Dazed, he pressed the accept button, something he would normally never have done, but he his thoughts were still spinning, because of what he just had seen.

Well, those thoughts got interrupted pretty rudely by a certain loud-mouthed Turk calling him, asking him, no, it felt more like being summoned to Healin, by the way the how Reno sounded. Yeah, he wouldn't haven given a damn, especially since he just had been back from a longer delivery, but the redhead had sounded truly upset about something, which lead him wondering why Rufus couldn't deal with it by himself, whatever it was.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious about that, though.

* * *

xox

* * *

Cloud hoped it wasn't as bad as he felt it was, but he knew better than to expect anything but the worst, which seemed to be about right, because when he was about to turn around for Healin, his senses screamed in alarm.

He narrowed his eyes, frowning at what looked like three men on motorcycles on the top of the hill. They were just out sight for normal eyes, but not to him. They wore black leather, but that wasn't what put Cloud on edge, no, it was the fact that all three seemed to have the same silver hair as Sephiroth did have – and they felt similar, too, only less intense compared to the one-winged-angel.

Their eyes, it was the very same shade and there was more, glowing jade eyes glaring down at him … smirking, teasing him like it was the most pleasurable thing to do. Next he knew they had released some sort of beasts to attack him, so he got First Tsurugi unsheathed and accelerated Fenrir to fight them.

Fighting them, turned out a bit difficult, because those beasts moved like shadows or ghosts, and were nearly unable for him to hit properly, more so because he was suddenly struggling with his balance. Cloud hadn't realized until now, but his timing and balance was a bit off because of the issue with the thing growing under his left shoulder.

The fight went on for several minutes, up to a draw, because it didn't seem like they truly wanted to kill him, but the whole thing was more of a tease, seeing the smirk of one of those guys close up.

Well, things went stranger than that, cause next he knew they were talking to him, asking about mother, which could only mean Jenova – but that made no sense to him, thinking that they destroyed the last part of her with Sephiroth at the Northern Crater.

What next came made even less sense, cause one of them, obviously their leader, called him 'brother' or more precisely 'big brother', which was unnerving to say the least for he was nothing of that sort, wasn't related to them in that sense. Yet, it hit a strange accord with him, like there was indeed a connection between them, reminiscent of the one he had with Sephiroth, but less intense.

Well, the fight went on for a few moments more than those beasts vanished and they left, which only added to the sense that it had been more of a mock fight than anything serious.

Cloud frowned at that, unable not to wonder what that had been about, and more important where those three had come from, because he had thought that they had defeated the last of Hojo and anything associated with him.

After another moment he shrugged, knowing that those thoughts would lead to nowhere, and went off to continue his ride to Healin, which turned out to be a rather boring ride compared to what had happened before.

* * *

xox

* * *

Cloud reached Healin a little later and went on straight for the main entrance, ignoring Reno, who seemed to have waited for him there. Well, he couldn't help but feel a little satisfaction at turk's frustrated shouts, meaning to give him a taste of his own medicine back at that.

He smirked then pulled the door shut behind him, effectively keeping Reno out, no matter how hard the redhead struggled to get in behind him.

"Ye're hidin' something Blondie, yo, ye're hidin' somethin', yo," the redhead kept muttering, all the while whining about being shut out and thumping at the closed door in vain.

"You fight like the SOLDIER you once claimed to be." A voice remarked, then went quiet with a little sigh, after he got a good look on the newcomer.

"That's new."The voice said again, sounding utmost serene but the ex-SOLDIER could hear a faint tremble in it, despite how calm and superior the speaker wanted to sound. It was a voice he knew, but he shouldn't be able hear it here, not like this.

Cloud narrowed his mako-eyes at the figure in the centre. The man was seated in a wheelchair and clothed in a grey business suit and although his face was hidden by some kind of grey blanket Cloud recognized the voice's owner. Yet, another surprise, even if it's something he should have expected somehow, because the man seemed to have more lives than cockroach in the past.

"Rufus Shinra." He breathed out, recovering from his shock of seeing yet another man coming back from the dead. Yes, he had believed him dead nearly two years ago, but that was obviously not quite true. Rufus Shinra looked to be in very bad shape but alive all the same. Cloud frowned, noticing the tale telling dark marks of Geostigma on the man's hands too.

"It has been a long time." He added with a smirk.

"Yes, I suppose it is." The man answered as calmly and sleek as before, maybe more so.

"What do you want from me?" He asked bluntly, because he was in no mood for playing games, not now, and not with someone like Rufus, who could not be trusted as far as he knew.

"Your help, Cloud." Rufus answered, mustering the ex-SOLDIER closely from under his blanket-covered face. Yes, Reno had been right, realizing what the turk had meant with something being off with the blonde ex-SOLDIER. Cloud was wearing a tattered red cloak, which looked a lot like the one Vincent Valentine wore, only that this covered only the blonde's left shoulder and back. He frowned at it but chose to ignore it for the time being since he had more important things to do.

"Shinra owes the world a lot." He said with elating hand gesture and paused a little for effect. "We started an investigation on Sephiroth, in the Northern Crater – and we found nothing."

"Hmm." Cloud mouthed, not sounding interested but he couldn't stop his pupils from widening at the mention of Sephiroth's name.

"I ought to hire a ... little muscle." Rufus continued, looking questioningly at Cloud, like he'd expected to live up to the title he had just given even if both knew that he had been never in SOLDIER, even if he had the body and the abilities of one.

"Well, too bad that I'm just a delivery boy now." Cloud snorted and turned around to leave. He definitely was done with Shinra and had little interest in changing that now, only because Rufus Shinra thought that a few good natured words of wanting to change things would convince him.

"Yet, you fight like the ex-SOLDIER you once pretended to be." Rufus said, trying again, even when he knew that the blonde was as good as out of the room. Cloud Strife was a rather stubborn man, as far he knew.

"Think about it, Cloud." He said again, making the blonde ex-SOLDIER pause for a moment, meeting Rufus with a frown.

"Those guys, what was that about 'mother'?" He asked, even if he had a very good idea what the three silver-haired young men meant by it, but he wondered if Rufus had anything to do with it so he gave it a try. He had a feeling that Shinra had a hand in all of this, like usually.

"Did they say that?" The current president replied, obviously trying feign innocence, but it didn't work very well, because it only made him sound only less trustworthy to Cloud.

"Yes."

"Many children miss their mothers now." Rufus said with a knowing look then went on with a similar rant like before – only Cloud didn't hear it anymore since he'd turned around and left the room, leaving a more than curious looking Reno behind.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for your reviews for chapter one.  
_

_Sorry if some of the words don't sound right, because it's hard for me to write slang, but he just sounds wrong otherwise._

_Mia_


	4. Haunting Dreams

Chapter three of Whispers about Angels.

For disclaimer see prequel.

* * *

**Haunting Dreams**

**

* * *

**

Not long after that meeting he was back again in Aerith' church, like usual these days. It seemed like the church was one of the few places he was able to find something close to peace, of being close to his past – and Aerith.

The place was soothing to him, even all it did was remind him of the past. Some of that hurt, but there were also bits and pieces that offered comfort to him. A reminder that not everything in the past had been completely bad, even he held little memory of it.

It was only a little later that he started dreaming of a familiar place, even if there were no flowers here this time, only an white-greenish fog all around him. Cloud looked around, once, twice then started to walk a little, curious what this was about and why he was here.

There was no sound following his steps, unlike in the physical world – and it would be unnerving him if he wasn't kind of used to it as well. Yet, he couldn't help the feeling that something was very off with the place, which had him stop after a few steps

In a way it was very different from his last visit, but it was still the same place Aerith used to visit him, even if it lacked her signature flowers now.

It wasn't what was bothering now, something beyond the missing flowers and absence of said Cetra. Yes, underneath the eerie calm, the place was emitting, there was now a sense of foreboding to it, something very familiar at that.

_There..._

It was close, close enough that he closed his eyes in response to it, willing the sensation to go away, which didn't made it go away. No, of course not, but instead it gained in strength; getting more intense with every passing moment, making it impossible to ignore.

He couldn't ignore it anymore, the knowledge that he wasn't any longer alone in this eerie place. And the fact that he knew it was not Aerith, visiting like usually, made it worse, so far worse. It was someone he'd thought he'd never see again, lest in a dream like this.

It was_ him._

There wasn't any way he could mistake him for anybody else. Aerith ... he could deal with, even wanted to see her, but this felt ... different and painfully familiar, like the fact that he knew that this was real, despite the fact that he knew that he was dreaming right now. He didn't want it to be real, didn't want to feel … this kind of exposed.

Enough, closing his eyes won't make him go away, Cloud decided to face this, _him a_t last because there simply wasn't any other choice. He knew _he_ wouldn't let go, never … ever let go. Well, it wasn't in his nature to back down, not even to _him_ even if he was tired of this.

He finally turned around, opening his eyes to the all too familiar figure on the other side. There were only a few metres between them now, which meant nothing, because there was no such thing as distance in this place.

"Sephiroth." Cloud voiced out loud, then shook his head, not wanting to acknowledge this for being anything close to being real. He even looked exactly like he remembered him, same black leather uniform … just like that, like always. Yes, sometimes his tired mind wondered even if the man hadn't any other clothes, which was just a little bit too close to insanity, but he guessed that was just his mind's attempt for comic relief when it all got too much.

"Go away..." He muttered. "You're not real ..."

"Not real?" Shinra's former General raised an elegant brow at this, almost, like he couldn't quite believe this reaction from the blonde he was facing. "What if I am?" He queried, with a half-amused expression, taking in the tired looking sight of the younger man in front of.

"It's a dream," Cloud muttered tiredly. "I'm dreaming, so this can't be real." He shook his head, trying to refuse to believe what his senses told him. He was more than tired having to deal with this, tired of having to fight him, over and over again.

"You know that … this is real, Cloud." Sephiroth smiled, not showing how unsettling it was to see the blonde this tired, this lifeless … not fighting, which was simply not acceptable.

"It can't be... you're ... dead." He tried to say more but felt at a loss of what to do, struggling with emotions he could not quite decipher. He knew he probably should do something useful like picking up his sword and fight him, but he could only stare at the all too familiar sight in front of him.

"I killed you ..." Cloud muttered. "Too many times," he added in thoughts. "How can you be real … here … in my dream?"

"I'm not exactly sure about it." The ex-General replied with slight smirk. "About being dead, I mean." He took a step closer, then another, slowly getting closer and fought down a shiver at the sheer strength of the pull that originated from his former puppet. Yes, former puppet, he though, while his smirk became wider.

His former puppet was pulling his strings this time – and didn't have a clue about it, how ironic. At first he had been surprised to find who exactly it was, who had been calling him, but in the end it was only appropriate to have it this way. And who was he to question this if even Mother agreed that it … was right.

"This feels real enough," he said," even while I remember dying I don't think I'm quite dead … yet."

"What ..." Cloud wanted to scream at this, but his voice broke, sounding strangely rough. This couldn't be right, not after he had killed him at least twice. "How … you can't be both … alive and dead, I mean." It was confusing, because it really was impossible, even he knew that nearly nothing about the older man ever was normal. Yep, the word impossible didn't seem to exist in connection with the one-winged-angel.

"I'm sorry." Sephiroth said next, deciding to take the blonde ex-SOLDIER by surprise. Yes, this was working; exact the thing the other wasn't expecting from him – and he wasn't exactly lying, because part of him was sorry for hurting Cloud the way he did in the past; sorry about having been too consumed with rage to see what was directly in front of him. It didn't mean that he was sorry for freeing Mother, of course, or getting back at Shinra.

"You what!" Cloud stared at the silver haired ex-General, looking at him like he had grown a second head or something similar. Where was the Sephiroth he knew? Where was that mad evil smirk he used to taunt him with? Something ... was very very strange indeed, for he almost could believe that Sephiroth was sane again, almost ... He wasn't sure, cause somehow this didn't sound exactly sane either, only that there wasn't any hostility in the way the ex-general acted towards him.

To say he was confused would be an understatement, and it made him unable to react in any way he thought he should, telling Sephiroth to go and leave him alone, because he wasn't sure what exactly it was he wanted to do about this.

"Cloud, don't make this any more difficult than it already is, because I'm honest with you." He sounded partially confused but then, like he remembered what he wanted to say, his jade eyes brightened and then he actually smiled at Cloud. A smile, which reminded Cloud of the times before, but that was wrong of course. Sephiroth had never smiled like this or had he? He couldn't be sure not with all the holes in his memories.

"I've come to put some things right, Cloud." Sephiroth continued and his smile broadened to something really breathtaking, powerful enough that Cloud found himself utterly helpless with unknown feelings, feelings he wasn't supposed to have, not after all what happened.

Cloud had forgotten that there had been a reason why Sephiroth had been called One-Winged-Angel, forgotten how striking he was, how unearthly beautiful, when his gaze wasn't filled with malice and mindless rage.

"You're not a puppet, not anymore." Sephiroth said in a grave serious voice. "I'm sorry about how things played out in the past." Yes, he was sincere about this, even if he didn't know quite why, only that it felt right. It felt right, because he didn't want the blonde as his puppet, unlike his clone had wanted, but that one had been mad with both his and Jenova's anger, enraged beyond reason. Sure, part of Sephiroth was still angry about what had been done to him .. and her, but Cloud wasn't part of this – and _She_ didn't want him angry with the younger man.

"No?" Cloud found himself asking without a second thought as he was still rather fuzzy in his head. Whatever he had expected the silver haired man to say this wasn't it. Why was he feeling so weak now?

"Then what am I now?" He asked in a fit of curiosity that tasted just a bit too much like joy at that.

"Mine," Sephiroth's voice answered, saying the first word he could think of – and it felt quite right, or at least it was the closest thing that made sense. For how else had the blonde been able to call him back like this?

"I'm yours, Cloud." His voice sounded sincere, raw and a bit uneasy, maybe, because he just realized that there wasn't anybody going to interfere with this, which … felt good, no more than just good. No, Sephiroth didn't sound wholly sane at that, but whatever insanity had remained ... felt different, far away from what it had been before – less hostile.

"Brother." He added, but just as he said it, he knew it wasn't quite the right word, didn't felt right yet he couldn't come up with anything better fitting. He was sure it wasn't the right term, but was unable to come up with something better.

Shocking sincerity, enough that Cloud failed to register that he wasn't the only one being surprised by this turn of events. Yes, Sephiroth seemed to be a bit surprised at his own choice of words, but it was only noticeable in the brightness of his eyes – his voice showed none of that.

"I am what?" Cloud exclaimed, confused by the emotion he could sense in the silver haired man's voice. This had to be the weirdest dream since a long time, he thought at that, even if part of him questioned that fact as well. It did not really feel like a dream was supposed to feel like, though.

"My brother, my family," he answered in a trance like voice ... so warm that he almost failed to recognize it belonging to Sephiroth.

Cloud almost woke at that, still hearing Sephiroth's soft laughter, which sounded genuinely happy for once, which was … disturbing. He thought the dream couldn't get worse after this, but he was wrong again, because Sephiroth closed the distance between them and then did something completely un-brotherly.

He kissed Cloud on the lips, right before he vanished, leaving him more confused than ever before.

What had just happened?

Yet, there was something more: something or someone hummed happily in Cloud's mind, right before he woke up, shaken from the dream he had. A dream, which felt way to real to could've been a normal dream. No, it had felt like those visits he got sometimes from Aerith or, more rarely, from Zack – and if that wasn't enough ...

Sephiroth ... had kissed him … He shivered at that thought, part of him wishing it was nerves, shock or whatsoever one would name that, but the other part of him knew better. It had … felt nice, no, better than nice …

Was that how Sephiroth felt about him? But he also had said he was his brother, so, did this make this incest of a sort? Cloud did try not to fall into a hysterical fit of laughter at this absurd thought – yet, was it really that absurd?

Whatever it was, but these thoughts made his head ache, so he tried not to continue that road again, for now.

* * *

Not long after that disturbing not-dream, when he had just been back to sleep, Cloud woke again, this time by increasing itching and poking in his shoulder, which didn't seem to give him any pause soon.

It was worse than ever before, this feeling of something crawling right under his skin – no, that was wrong it was more like a limb moving under his skin, trying to get out.

Was it that time already? He thought, feeling cold dread floating his system at that too.

Yes, it was happening. There was no doubt at that now, and nothing he could do would change this.

Damn Hojo, he swore, somehow wishing he could kill the man again for what he had done. He really had gone off too easy for all the mess he had created, deadly mess. He only feared that there was much worse to come, now with the Geostigma and those strange men, not to forget the strange behaviour of Shinra, or what was left of it.

Something was going on, he knew, but he also knew that for now he could do nothing against it.

After that night the dreams came back, more often with increasing intensity and very much in sync with the itching in his shoulder, which got nearly unbearable now and it was only because of Cloud's past experience as a lab experiment that he somehow endured it at all.

The dreams, they bothered him, more than he tried to tell himself that they were only dreams, which they were not. Why kept Sephiroth visiting night after night and what for? All they did was talk, right after he tried to fight him after the second visit but was stopped by somehow, by the logic of the ex-General's words and the absence of the familiar insanity in his eyes most of the time.

It bothered Cloud greatly, that he caught himself looking forward to their meetings. It told himself that it probably was only because he was in fact the only one he could talk about this, this thing growing inside his shoulder but he knew that wasn't all about it.

Only, that couldn't possible be, not for their greatest enemy – and yes, back then when they had been hunting Sephiroth, Cloud had hated him then, but that was feeling was fading now, almost like it had belonged to someone else. It didn't mean he forgot what happened back in Nibelheim, but the power of his hatred, which had driven him to go through with it until the end - it was gone.

Instead there was some some strange sadness, an emptiness he didn't quite understand why he was feeling it, but it was there nonetheless.

Maybe it always had, he thought, remembering the parts where he thought he was Aerith' boyfriend – but that had been Zack, always Zack and not him. It had been Zack that loved Aerith, not him.

Now, he started to have other dreams, dreams he suspected were actually memories. Dreams in which he saw himself back at Shinra – and if it were just his time as a SOLDIER cadet in general he wouldn't have been bothered by it, not even if it had Zack in it.

No, that wasn't what he dreamed about. No, instead he was assaulted by scenes of himself and none other but General Sephiroth. They weren't doing much in those, but talk quietly to each other, so it seemed innocent enough. Yet, there was something off with those meetings, something he couldn't quite place a finger on it, but it was bothering him more than he liked to admit to himself.

It didn't make any sense at all, as well, for he couldn't see any reason why Sephiroth would've bothered meeting up with a ordinary cadet like him back then.

He ... didn't think they could be real, yet he seemed to be unable to get them off his mind – and the feeling of longing that clung to these memories. The loneliness he could feel lurking under Sephiroth's cool and professional presence. Cloud knew that it was no wonder with the way the older man was brought up, the way Shinra worked, but it didn't make it any less painful

Yet, somehow he couldn't get rid of the feeling that there was more to these memories than just that, far more than just pity – or wishing he could've lived a normal life, like anybody else.

Something, that hurt, so much that Cloud wished he could wipe that look from Sephiroth's face, which wasn't possible, because everything was already far too late for that – and nobody could change the past no matter how hard they tried to.

* * *

xox

* * *

Not all his dreams were about the General, but they seemed to get weirder and weirder the more intense the pain in his shoulder got.

One night ... the dream was different; it started with an odd sense of warmth and comfort only for him to see something, no someone, he hadn't seen in what seemed for him a lifetime ago: his mother.

"Mother," Cloud said in his dream and suddenly the sense of warmth left in the blink of an eye, leaving him with a feeling that something wasn't right – and he shivered at the look she was giving him, the expression of disgust on her face.

He felt cold because he couldn't, didn't want to remember his mother this way, so cold, but he was unable to ignore it.

"Who are you?" She asked him, while looking him over with an expression like she found a strange animal in her room – and didn't like what she saw.

"Mom?" He tried again, feeling desperate to get her to acknowledge him.

"I'm not your mother." She shook her head. "I don't have a son." She added with a glare that clearly said that he wasn't wanted here. "Go away," she told him then; her eyes cold like glaciers that broke his heart, a heart, he wasn't sure existed any more until this moment.

He then did what she said, went up and left her, but didn't cry, didn't beg her again to accept him. Although, part of him knew that this was only a dream, it felt painfully real, very much like the other dreams, yet somehow false, or maybe more like he was really a stranger walking in his own body.

What did he know? He wasn't the same Cloud that had left to join SOLDIER when he was barely fourteen in hopes to make his dream reality. No, sadly, even the parts he 'did' remember of that life felt strange and foreign to him somehow, like he was watching a film about a stranger's life. Yet, he somehow yearned for that life, even it surely hadn't been perfect, but that Cloud did still have dreams – and knew what laughing like felt.

So, he was walking away from that house, away from a ghostly Nibelheim that didn't exit any longer, but only in the abyss that made up his nightmares. It looked grey – and faded, almost as if the houses were only ghost-images of what they once were; another sign that it was a dream, really.

It was a dream, right? But if it was, why did he not wake up the moment his mother had denied that he was her very son? He shook his head in confusion or would've done so if this were real.

He found himself on that very path, that led to disaster back then, up to Mt. Nibel where the old reactor was, waiting like some gloomy dragon to devour any visitor foolish enough to get near to it. Something urged him on, telling him that he needed to do something, but he had no clue what it meant, only that it was important somehow.

Cloud continued walking in a trance-like way, which didn't really surprise anyone since this was a dream and all, but it kind of did. It did, because his legs seemed to move on their own, like a machine he didn't have the control unit for. They kept walking and walking until he was there, inside the reactor building – and then he tried to fight it because he didn't want to see that place again. At least that was, what he told himself it was, trying to ignore the growing feeling of dread he felt in his heart.

He told himself that **She** was gone, that there was nothing for him to find – only the empty shell of the tube **She** had been kept in. Problem was only, that in this strange dream impossible things seemed to be possible; things like meeting his dead mother and her rejecting him, he thought with dull pain.

A dull pain that grew into a gnawing ache, like a black hole, somewhere in Cloud's heart – surprising, because he hadn't thought about his mother in a long time. He somehow thought he had dealt with this loss a long time ago.

He tried to fight it, even now, feeling that giving into this dark emotion was wrong, somehow, but found that it wasn't something he could control the way he wanted to. Maybe it was something that had always lingered in his soul, the need of being accepted, to belong; something he knew he would never archive, not with his past. Whatever he did, he was always alone, even among his friends.

That thought was wrong as well, yet, not completely, because while he had no doubts about their loyalty, he subconsciously knew most of the couldn't really understand what made him him.

They didn't know how it felt not knowing who you were most of the time, didn't knew how it felt to have that seducing voice in his head, emotions that weren't his and yet they were.

He didn't think they know how often he truly had come close to giving into it, more times than he cared to admit to himself. Yes, there had been more close calls than he ever dared to admit, fighting himself as much as he had been fighting Sephiroth and Jenova then.

No, he shook his head, not even Vincent and Nanaki were that messed up like him, because for some reason they found their way back to an almost normal life, unlike him.

Yes, he was tired of fighting, of hurting ... of being alone even when he was with his friends. Cloud was tired of wanting to push that invisible barrier away and never really succeeding in doing so.

Ironic that it was exactly what his younger self had wanted, in a way; had wanted to be strong like this, like a SOLDIER, like Sephiroth. Only now he did know that it wasn't worth it, but it was too late, way too late to turn things back to what they were once …

Tired, he was so tired of being different; set apart from anybody else.

Maybe it was that why he didn't fight back, why he let himself pulled by that eerie feeling that couldn't mean anything good, yet seemed to promise everything he had ever wanted.

* * *

Then he was there, but nothing was like he remembered it.

He remembered destruction and pain; here was none of that, just an eerie soothing calmness.

Her, well, he didn't really remember seeing her – but she was nothing like what he had expected.

Cloud didn't expect **Her** to be smiling at him, and it wasn't a malevolent smile but looked like a real, honest warm smile that reached her eyes. The eyes looked eerie, of course, with that hue of red, but it wasn't the first time he had seen eyes of that colour. Vincent's eyes looked similar, yet completely different.

"Fight," said a distant voice in the back of his head, and part of him knew that he should do just that, fight **Her,** but he just couldn't, couldn't even with the voice getting frantic and terrified.

He had no fight left in him ... Was it really such a bad thing to give up, to give in?

The voice screamed in agony at those thoughts, but Cloud couldn't hear any of it, couldn't hear it because, it was too far away; fading fast from his mind … leaving him alone with **Her** ...

"Jenova," he heard himself murmur; it sounded like a greeting, maybe it was.

The humming answered in changing its tone and then it became words ... welcoming him. It weren't really words because Jenova wasn't really capable of speech anymore, but his mind translated the sensations and images into words so it didn't really matter.

"My son," she said, which was accompanied with an emotion that felt suspiciously like love; something he wanted to refuse to acknowledge, thinking that it should be impossible.

It confused Cloud, for all he knew Jenova didn't know love, or did she? Worse, she sounded honest, he found himself thinking – and again, there was that part if him that stated that of course, she sounded honest, but that it was all fake, only there to seduce him to her side.

"You mean Sephiroth," he finally said, while trying to make sense of this. He waited what her reply would be – for she couldn't be right, even if that had been the same thing Sephiroth had said when he visited him on that night not so long ago. He had called them brothers, family, which meant … He shook his head, trying to force the thought away, but it stayed, like some unwanted guest that refused to leave the house.

At first he thought she would agree to his implied question, but did surprise him again by shaking her head slowly, carefully as if she didn't know quite how to react to his words.

"You're both my sons." She proceeded calmly with a somewhat sad expression, at least Cloud thought it was sadness, although he didn't have a clue what that was about. She was an alien after all, he told himself, but it sounded not quite right at that.

"You didn't act ... very motherly." Cloud finally managed to find words to say in return.

"I ... was unaware." She admitted, nodding her head at that, but he thought that she would reach out for him if she decided to do so. "I didn't know you were one of my own." Her voice was dripping with sadness, a hurt so hollow that it felt ancient, age old, but still very real. It was also that kind of hurt that turned easily into mindless rage if out of control.

"Then ... how do you know now?" He asked in return, feeling seriously curious now. It was something he truly wanted to know – and it also would help him decipher if she was honest or not. At least that's what he told himself, also ignoring that panicking voice, that other one, which sounded strangely like Zack.

"I didn't knew about you, Cloud, because your cells were too weak, too muted, for me to recognize you." She explained, while the scene changed into something other, but strangely familiar.

"Sephiroth could." He objected, remembering only all too well how Sephiroth had forced his will on him all those years ago.

"Yes," she agreed, "but only because of the bond between you and him, but there is more." She didn't continue explaining, but he was unable to refuse the knowledge in her voice.

It was confusing … and painful to witness that scene, a little boy taken away from his mother's arms leaving her feeling empty and alone, reaching out for her child but never succeeding. It was disturbing to see the pain, no worse, feel that pain of a mother losing her only child, but there was more, because the boy … he looked kind of familiar, those blue eyes and blond hair made Cloud think of how he must have looked at that age.

Nothing in the scene made sense – and most of all how it related to him or Jenova.

"Why?" He found himself asking but instead of an answer the scene changed once again, showing now the familiar sight of his own home-town, Nibelheim. Next he saw his mother taking him to the Shinra Mansion, which wasn't her choice if the desperate look on her face was anything to go by. He saw her talk to a middle aged scientist Cloud couldn't remember anything about. The man looked kind enough, but that didn't stop the unease he felt about this scene, not if that man had anything to do with Shinra.

"You're kin," he heard her whisper in the background, all the while struggling with the sensory input he received, feeling confused than ever, but he had no defence at this raw emotion he was sensing from her.

How could he be kin, and he knew she didn't mean it the way Sephiroth was kin to her, no something was different about this even he had yet to understand what exactly it was.

"That's why he was curious." She added, sounding like she wanted to flay the scientist alive, but instead she had to be grateful to what he had done. Curiosity never was a good thing, and indeed it got worse, because what happened next was far to familiar for Cloud to not recognize the process, even if this scientist was far more sensitive about it, than Hojo ever had been.

Watching and listening to the scientist's murmuring and noticing the curious and near excited look on the scientist's face, he realized how close he had come to share Sephiroth's fate of becoming just another Shinra project.

"Why is he doing that?" He found himself asking, more to himself than to Jenova.

"To help you," she answered him nevertheless.

"Help me?" He repeated, still staring at the scene under him. "I'm not so sure." Cloud couldn't help but think about Hojo, even he wanted nothing less than remember that time. No, while this scientist looked almost friendly, almost like he really had meant to help, Cloud couldn't help but question his actions. He was part of Shinra after all – and even not all people working for Shinra were bad, he didn't trust any scientist.

He didn't expect an answer, or any reaction to it – but he was still surprised at when the scene changed once again, taking him closer to what the scientist's curiosity caused, giving way to look at the young boy that had once been him.

He would've thought he looked normal, but for a tiny bruise his left arm, a tiny black mark that was blemishing his otherwise untouched skin. He had seen this before, had seen people dying because of it, but still, it didn't made any sense because the disease hadn't existed back then.

He felt her shaking her head at his thoughts. "You would've died without his help." The words sounded calm, but somehow he could feel the underlying emotions of guilt, pain and more enough anger to flatten whole towns with it. It didn't made sense on the surface, but somehow he knew she more about the origins of this sickness than anybody else did.

"But that ... means..." He murmured, realizing what had been used to cure him then. He shook with denial, refusing that this had been anything but something created to seduce him to her side, but he knew what he had seen the scientist doing. Somehow he knew it was the truth, even if he didn't know how.

"It means that you're my child in more ways than one." She surrounded him with warmth at that. It was **Her **way of letting him know that he was welcomed. "And I love all my children."

"Remember this, Cloud," she repeated even as the dream started to fade. "I love you, my son."

He woke a moment later, feeling … kind of numb and confused. What happened in this dream couldn't be right, couldn't be real, right? It was just a dream, he tried to tell himself – and if not, it was probably only a devious way of Jenova trying to seduce him to her side, right?

* * *

_Hope it's not too confusing after all.  
_

_Mia_


	5. Strings that bind

Chapter four of Whispers about Angels. For disclaimer see prequel.

**Warnings:** shonen-ai/slash, some strong language for this chapter.

* * *

xxx

* * *

**Strings that bind**

* * *

After the last dream, he tried not to sleep for a while, because he didn't want a repeat that dream, didn't want having to face her again. It didn't last long, of course, because even with all the Mako in his body he still needed sleep from time to time. One could only stay so long awake without consequences and a crappy mood, acting before thinking things through were only a few among them.

In a way it was ironic, cause while his body craved sleep more and more, his mind just didn't want to shut down; thoughts running wild – and while he forced himself not to think about Jenova, it meant only that they went in circles around another topic he tried to avoid previously.

Maybe that was why his tired mind called out to him for help when the next dream hit at full force. It was another one, a real dream he thought but wasn't completely sure because of the strange content. That was if content was the right word, cause there just was nothing in it, absolute silence, overwhelming loneliness he could barely bear – and that was only because part of him knew that it was not his own emotion, that this thing didn't belong to him.

Or maybe it did? He wasn't sure, because the nothingness became a building then, which wasn't much better, cause the sense of loneliness stayed. No, he decided, it was worse, because the presence of a building made it even more prominent that people should be here, but weren't.

It was cold, so cold. It was the kind of cold that clung to prisons and abandoned laboratories, which was not really a physical thing but a lack of emotion, of caring and love.

There wasn't anything he could do, but walk, walk empty hallways that seemed to lead to nowhere, a familiar nowhere and yet it wasn't. It wasn't like the Shinra Building, he remembered, which didn't say much with the fractured memory he called his own.

It was dark, he thought, then decided it wasn't, but only felt like it, dark, because of the sheer hopelessness the place seemed to breathe out of every pore.

After endless minutes he realized that he had been walking in circles and was back at the beginning, which was just like every other hallway, but had smaller numbers on the doors. He sat down on the floor, thinking that it didn't made any sense to keep walking.

Sitting down, the door behind him opened with a slight click, giving way into a darkened room. He tried to enter the room, but just then the scene changed into something altogether.

He blinked, because of the sensation of somebody holding his hand, holding it in a gloved hand. Gloved like in leather glove, he frowned and looked up only to be met with a pair of familiar green eyes.

"Why … are you holding my hand?" His dream-self asked, feeling completely puzzled by this scene, yet he knew he knew that it had happened, but the place did not quite fit with what he remembered nor did the expression on Sephiroth's face.

"Because I can." The general answered, but it sounded forced, it should have been 'allowed' instead.

"Not because you want to?" Cloud frowned, thinking the choice of words strange, coming from someone in Sephiroth's position – and he was sure that this dream was about their days in SOLDIER; not the present. He was wearing his old uniform right now, too.

"I do, but..." Cloud didn't want to see this look on the older man's face and looked down at their joined hands instead, tightening his hold on Sephiroth's hand a little.

"You want more?" He asked, knowing somehow that Sephiroth wanted them to be closer than this, but couldn't – not with what they were. Whatever people thought Sephiroth had never been his own man but had been always tightly bound to his position as General of SOLDIER – and worse, Hojo's willing him to be nothing but a weapon, which didn't allow anything close to a normal life; and Cloud had been more than vulnerable being only a cadet.

"Yes," he acknowledged, then shook his head in response, "but it's not possible, never possible..." He trailed out, sounding painfully lost at these words, which was more than Cloud could take.

It, this was a dream, he thought, so he could do whatever he wanted, right? Whatever he wanted to he could do …

So he did exactly that, using his free hand to pull Sephiroth's head down to crash their lips together for a kiss. It tasted of desperation … and relief, because it was what he had longed to do for so long, so long.

It lasted only for few precious moments, because the dream faded a that, leaving Cloud sitting straight on his makeshift bed, fighting the aftermath of strong emotion. He kept staring at the walls for a long while, realizing that he just found another puzzle piece to a past he had forget among so many other things.

He wasn't sure if Hojo had anything to do with this, with him forgetting about how he had felt about the older man. It had been simply too painful to remember, to remember the feeling – and having to kill him to save the world.

* * *

xox

* * *

Not long after that night, the dreams suddenly stopped, which should have been good, but it wasn't. He didn't dream only because he couldn't sleep. The pain in his shoulder intensified greatly until it reached an near unbearable level, which had him tossing and turning on his makeshift bed. It made him wish he could have the dreams back, because at least the ones containing Sephiroth gave him some sort of weird comfort. Comfort, he felt guilty of craving for, but he simply couldn't help it.

Then it was over – and it, this thing, no the wing was finally out.

Cloud eyed it with mixed feelings, wondering for a moment if he should simply cut it off, but then decided against it since that would've probably make things worse – and who knew if it wouldn't be simply growing back after all?

No, so that was not a solution for him, but what then? He couldn't probably walk around with this appendage displayed openly. People would freak out for sure if he did that, so what?

He frowned at that, wondering how he could hide it and moved it a little, stretching it and pulling it back into his body. It hurt, quite a lot, but all in all it was manageable and nothing against the things he had endured under Hojo's tender care.

Trying to calm himself a little he went of to get water from the well in the church's backyard since there wasn't any water at the church anymore. He had intended to make some tea for comfort – but instead of getting the water like he wanted to, he just froze there, staring at the water below.

Cloud stared at the reflection, because it showed his wing – and it made him realize how real this whole mess was, and not just some weird dream like part of him still had hoped to. The wing, which he hadn't been able to keep in for any longer time, was very different from what he had expected to find. The wing looked actually quite nice, with its scales that bore golden highlights, but he didn't see it. All he could see was that he had a wing, which shouldn't exist at all. He hugged himself at that, feeling despair wailing up inside , because he didn't know what to do with this or how to deal with it.

A wing, he did have a wing, but ... humans shouldn't have wings, didn't have wings. Did that mean that he was far less human than he already knew about? He frowned, thinking back to all the things that madman Hojo had done to him.

Hojo had made monsters back there in that Nibelheim reactor, monsters. So, was he one too, after all this time? He had always been convinced otherwise, knowing that while he wasn't quite human any more he was not a monster, but now he wasn't so sure anymore?

His thoughts were spinning out of control and would probably continued that way, but they were interrupted by the change of his surroundings … into something, eerily familiar, so bright and those flowers all around.

Those flowers brought a bitter-sweet pang of emotion to him, but also alarm, for he was very aware that the last of the Cetra wouldn't just visit him only because she felt like it.

"Aerith?" He called, looking for the familiar sight of the brunette flower-girl, but found someone else, someone he hadn't seen him for even longer time ... but could this be truly him. Was that really Zack?

"Zack?" He managed to ask aloud, his voice sounding raspy with too many emotions.

"_You're not a monster," _his friend said, once, twice until it reached Cloud through the fog of his confused emotions.

"It's really you..." Cloud said again, turning around to get a closer look at the ghostly greenish shimmering figure that was his old friend. Zack just smiled broadly in return, nodding. He couldn't even grasp of how much he had missed him until now.

"_You're not a monster, Spike." _Zack repeated again. He looked abnormal serious for once, then grinned. "You look far too cute for that." He added and reached out to ruffle Cloud's spikes, which made the blonde lean into it instead protesting like he had done in the past. For a long moment he stayed still, just letting his friend comfort him, but a moment later his dark thoughts were back.

"I'm not? Then what I am?" Cloud pulled his head away from Zack's touch only to stretch out his newly grown wing at that. "Certainly not human. Humans do not have wings." He was shocked by the amount of bitterness in his own voice, but there didn't seem anything he could do about that. His life was a fucking mess after all, so what was there to do about that?

He had to, even if it was only for his friends ... they needed him, right? He tried to push away the bitterness and approaching despair but wasn't very successful.

"You're Cloud, my friend."Zack's smile brightened, even while the worry in his eyes was still very visible, mixed with old pain one could only guess about."You always will be, no matter what happens."

"But ... what if I don't know who Cloud is anymore?" He whispered to himself.

"Then I'm here to remind you." The SOLDIER chuckled, sounding as relaxed as always, but his eyes betrayed him that he was worried about his friend. Zack really wished he could do more, could reassure that his friend wasn't going to deteriorate, that he wasn't going down the same path others have gone; the way Genesis and his mentor Angeal had ended up.

"You won't be always there." Cloud objected, somehow knowing that it was not easy for the older man to meet him like this, not as easily as Aerith did.

"No, you're wrong," Zack said softly and walked closer to him and tipped him on the chest, right there were the heart was. "I'm always here. Never forget this."

"I know." Cloud acknowledged, almost in a the same soft voice as the dark haired SOLDIER before had. "It just doesn't make this any easier."

"I know," Zack said, nodding slowly then pulled the younger man into a tight hug, holding him close and this time Cloud gave in to let his friend comfort him, only now realizing how much he had needed this. He closed his eyes then, leaning into the embrace – and felt content, almost happy, but for a part of him that wished for someone else to hold him, guiltily so.

* * *

_xox_

* * *

He didn't know how long they had stayed like this, but he was shaking out of this peaceful feeling when he felt Zack stiffening next to him. Cloud opened his eyes only to see Zack's face distort into a weird mixture of anger, pity and an nearly overwhelming sadness that it had Cloud gasp in reaction.

For a moment he was puzzled, confused on what was happening until he looked away from Zack to be met by all too familiar emerald eyes – and was unable to look away.

"Sephiroth," he managed to say, but it was almost inaudible, a mere whisper because of the overwhelming emotion he felt then. Cloud felt a mix of surprise,anger and an almost overwhelming happiness he was unable to contain; happiness because Sephiroth was around, and anger because he left him alone when he needed him most.

He couldn't help but feel guilty about it, because part of him wished that it had been Sephiroth to visit him earlier and not Zack. That didn't meant he wasn't happy to see his old friend, no, of course not, but he kind of had developed a strong craving for the silver-haired ex-General's company.

Zack, however, wasn't exactly happy to see Sephiroth then and started to mutter hoarse things under his breath and from the rigid way he held his body, he could be only glaring at said ex-General.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud heard him half yelling, half inquiring, but Sephiroth didn't get the time to answer, because Zack told him to go away in the very next moment. His old friend had moved in front of him, which was just so like Zack, trying to protect him even after all this time.

Zack wanted Sephiroth gone, Cloud thought with a sudden pang in his chest. It hurt, because he didn't want him to leave so quickly after he just had arrived. He acted before he could think it through, wiggling out of his friend's embrace and launched himself at Sephiroth. He needed to reach him, before he could do what Zack had said and vanish.

"Don't go!" Cloud said, shocking both himself and Zack, but it was true: he didn't want Sephiroth to leave him, not now. The dark haired SOLDIER staring at him like he had suddenly growing another head – maybe he had for some part of himself was as shocked about his own actions as his old friend, but it was what he wanted, though.

"What?" Zack murmured and then froze, unable to do anything, but stare as Cloud moved forward, faster than he thought possible, towards Sephiroth, intend obviously clear, to stop the silver haired man from leaving just ... yet. Well, that was obvious ... but how could he do this after all what happened? Not that part of him wouldn't have approved of it, but that had been another time and a lifetime ago. Back than Seph had been another person, socially inapt and cold on the surface, but very human at his very core.

Zack shivered even while there was no reason to do so here, at this place, but it was because he couldn't help but wonder how much Cloud did remember, remember before everything went to hell... but this Sephiroth wasn't the same as well. The black-haired SOLDIER frowned even more, thinking that the ex-General behaved damn weird as well.

Still, all he could do was to watch Cloud pulling Sephiroth back, holding him on his right arm and then it went even worse, when Cloud allowed himself to be pulled into an embrace. The older man was surprisingly gentle at that and there was a strange light in his eyes as well.

Sephiroth ... cared? Zack wanted to say something, do something ... anything because it seemed so impossible to him, almost like a miracle, but with that thought he felt himself fading, losing his hold on his body here. His time was up here, he knew he had to leave even if he didn't want to. He was after all only a human and didn't possess the abilities of the Cetra to visit the living like this for very long. Actually, it was only because of his bond with Cloud that this was possible at all.

Yes, his body was losing consistence but he could still see more than he wanted to, feeling suddenly kind of afraid of the outcome of this. Just how much of that old crush had survived? Zack was more than aware that both Cloud and Sephiroth did have had a thing for each other ... before Nibelheim, before disaster struck. Neither of them had ever acted on it, but it had been there, nonetheless. Somehow, he knew, that even if the ex-General ... wasn't quite sane – yet, he looked a bit more like the Sephiroth he remembered.

Zack could only helpless watch as Sephiroth and Cloud continued to stare into each others eyes only to finally close the gap between them. Their lips touching briefly at first only to deepen the kiss a moment later.

It was almost like they were in a kind of trance, so absorbed they seemed to be in this kiss that they hardly noticed anything else. Both had their eyes closed and Cloud's hands became entangled with Sephiroth's hair. Neither of them seemed to be able or wanting to end this for it seemed to continue for what seemed like a small eternity to Zack, who was still watching them even while his body became hazy and immaterial.

He really didn't know how to feel about this, not at all.

A moment later Zack was gone completely.

* * *

xox

* * *

"You know, I wouldn't worry too much about Sephiroth." A soft voice said to him. It was a voice Zack knew all too well, so he turned around with another sigh to meet a pair of soft green eyes.

"Not worry about Sephiroth?" He managed to get out with a scowl."Why not? Not that he isn't in the middle of all this, like always!" No, that wasn't quite right, but he couldn't help the bitterness he still felt about the past, because of that nightmare.

"Zack." She said quietly. It was still rather obvious that the black-haired ex-SOLDIER had trouble forgiving what Sephiroth had done, not that she couldn't understand him. It was only human to react like this, but she needed him to see the important things first now. There was far more at stake than he knew.

"I know it's hard to believe, but ... he's actually almost sane now." The Cetra replied with a gentle smile. "I think it's the Lifestream, which is calming the Calamity's voice here, which leaves him time to think more straight." She continued to explain calmly, actually more calmly than she felt about the current situation.

"But?" Zack frowned at her, knowing there was more to come, things he probably won't like at all.

"She's still alive, Jenova, I mean?" He couldn't completely help but feel cold dread at the idea that that space bitch was still alive and all.

"Unfortunately, yes, even if she's been far calmer now." Aerith sighed at this, thinking about all the children which were suffering from Geostigma and all. Yes, the planet was still very angry at the alien presence that had caused so much damage, even if she no longer thought that there was anything like 'evil' about it. Of course something doesn't have to be evil to be deadly, just like viruses were, neither good nor evil.

"It's Cloud, you're worried about, isn't it, Aerith?" Zack asked finally after thinking hard about what he'd just heard from her. "His wing, it's about his Jenova cells ... "

"I'm afraid it is worse than that," She nodded, trying to sound calm, even while she felt more like panicking about the whole thing. But no, she couldn't let Zack know this, couldn't let him know that Cloud was hearing the Calamity's voice, because it would do no good since neither of them could change that fact. "Rufus, he did retrieve Jenova's neck from the crater – and I'm afraid that isn't all there is to it."

"Sephiroth's clones?" Zack asked, thinking of the three men he had seen around Cloud the other day.

"Yes and no. They're not exactly clones, not like before." She chuckled sadly. "In a way they're correct when they call Sephiroth big brother."

"They called Cloud that too." He frowned.

"They did." She agreed thoughtfully.

"Are they right? Is Spike like them?" Fear clamped at him at that, thinking that there were too many similarities between his Spike and Sephiroth now that he could overlook them and the physically ones were the least to worry about even if they were upsetting enough, signs of the alien cells inside.

"I don't think so, Zack." She shook her head at that, slowly, in a hesitating manner – and indeed, the last Ancient wasn't sure at all what she should hope for. Aerith was afraid, that it was indeed worse, much worse than being like the three Remnants could ever be.

"Oh, that's good." He nodded, then frowned while seeing her shivering, something that should have been impossible here, in the lifestream. "Aerith, are you all right?" He asked while pulling her closer, trying to give comfort and warmth to her, just like he would've when they were still alive.

"It's all right, Zack." She nodded, but leaned into the touch, accepting the comfort he offered. The Cetra looked at his questioning eyes, feeling at a loss on what to do so she just shook her head and pulled him closer. "There's nothing you can do."

"We can only hope for the best and then some." She pulled him closer for comfort – and strength.

* * *

xox

* * *

Cloud was lost, yet it was the exact opposite from that, because it felt like he just found himself again, being whole for the first time since years. Yet, he was indeed lost, because of the sensations racing to his body, of his heart racing and his body trembling. It was only the strong arms holding him that kept him from falling, and maybe the way his wing moved out on its own to cling to Sephiroth's back. He wasn't really aware that he had one hand tangled up in long silver hair and the other around the ex-general's waist … had opened his coat and had sneaked a hand under it to touch the skin underneath.

He was too distracted with their tongues dancing with each other, the feel of Sephiroth's tongue plundering his mouth hungrily while his was doing the exact same thing, seemingly unable to get enough of this … taste. One kiss led to another and another, becoming and seemingly endless series of kisses. Those kisses they then strayed from their lips to the neck and to … other places that made him tremble and shiver with excitement, he could barely control.

During all of this he had his eyes firmly closed, unable to open them under the assaulting sensations . That was until he felt cool air on his chest and opened his eyes in response, only to get caught up once again, unable to look away from those green eyes and the naked hunger he saw in them.

It was nearly too much, nearly enough to sent him over the edge, but he somehow managed to control that. Cloud never thought he ever felt this hot, feverish and nearly delirious that it almost felt like he was on drugs, completely stoned.

And it got worse with that hand pulling the zip of his shirt down until its sides hung loosely to his body, then that perfect mouth leaned down to assault him once again, kissing his way down from his neck until it stopped at his right nipple. Sephiroth teased it once then bit down slightly, which made Cloud's hips buckle against his and them both grown because of the friction it caused between them.

Next he thought he felt Sephiroth smirk then trailed one of his hands down Cloud's belly until it reach the rim of his trousers, which had somehow managed to lose its belt sometime along the way. The hand stopped there, so close that Cloud's heart nearly stopped then beat so fast that his chest hurt in response.

The hand got closer to its target, slowly slipping underneath those hindering fabrics ….. then it all stopped. Then the light around him got so blinding white that Cloud shut his eyes in response to keep from getting blinding only to open them a moment later to find that he was back where he had been before this all started.

He was back in the backyard of Aerith's church, leaning to well, breathing heavily because of what just had happened. Cloud closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath to calm his overloaded senses and slow his still racing heart to a more normal pace.

It took quite a while and even then, while he managed to calm somewhat down he realized that he had quite a problem, because he was still strongly aroused. He grimaced at that and slowly got up, only to groan again because of how tight his trousers' fit was right now.

He thought to pick up the pot he had brought to carry the water back, but found it no longer being there where he dropped it. Cloud frowned at this and went back to the church, all the while trying to take care of his little problem by thinking unsexy thoughts, only it didn't seem to work.

No matter what he tried, every time he ended up seeing a pair of glowing green eyes look back him, which had been the very thing that had brought him into this situation. It was frustrating and more than a little embarrassing, cause he really didn't want to take care of it here, not in the church – only it didn't seem like he was getting any other chance there.

So, he made sure he was back inside he muttered a quick apology then took care of this problem the only way that worked.

* * *

xox

* * *

Cloud didn't know why he came back, like this, but maybe it was because he felt guilty for what happened the other day, and how much he had wanted it, even knowing that it had to be wrong to love their very enemy like that.

Maybe, he thought, it was just habit, something he felt he needed to do, for Tifa and the children. Yes, it was for them he'd come back, even he felt uncomfortable being … here, cause ever since these things had started it's felt like he could people's eyes on him, staring at him.

It probably wasn't real, but the feeling was still there – and there was the strained relationship between him and Tifa. He really didn't want to hurt her for he thought her as a good friend, but he just couldn't bring himself to feel the same way about her they way she obviously felt about him.

There was more, thinking that it felt unsafe to for her to be around him, for reasons he couldn't quite pin down – and he didn't want to lose another friend just because he'd been not cautious enough.

"So you've come back." Tifa said in a slightly sarcastic tone, that could barely hide the anguish she felt about his constant leaving.

He only nodded.

"Will you stay?" She wanted to ask but didn't voice out, because she already knew the answer to it and didn't want to hear it aloud, not this time.

Cloud looked away, not wanting to face her searching eyes, the hurt in those eyes once again. Truly, he wished he could say yes, just this time, but he knew that he had no choice, not with things being like they were. Even now, he couldn't help but notice the suspicious look in her dark eyes, knowing that she suspected something was going on with him.

Yeah, right now it was only that, mixed with worry for him, but he couldn't help but be afraid about how she'd react if she knew the truth, the whole truth. Cloud swallowed uneasily, thinking on how Sephiroth had been treated back in the old days, with worship and fear in people's eyes. Yes, his situation wasn't quite like that now, but he was already feeling the gap between him and normal people getting almost painful wide.

More so, he didn't want Tifa to witness … those dreams about Sephiroth and how he felt about them. He felt guilty of them, guilty that he was craving them with an intensity that was starting to become painful … but it didn't seem like there was anything he could do about that.

"I'm sorry." He managed to get out after a long uncomfortable silence between them.

* * *

xox

* * *

Later that night Tifa frowned, realizing just who was in her bar, but then smiled, thinking that it was a good sign that the truce between them and Shinra was starting to become reality. Sure, she still did not completely trust them, but as long they behaved themselves while being here it was fine with her.

Though, she was more than a little surprised to see Cid and Vincent here in her bar, sitting and chatting in a casual way, almost like they did this every night, which they didn't. It had been a while since she had seen them since Cid was busy with his new airship and Vincent, being Vincent, only showing up when he wanted to.

Yet, they were here tonight.

Reno sat at a table in a corner of the bar, drinking for all that was good like he had done for most of the night. He frowned at something only he could see and murmured the same sentence over and over again, almost like a sing-song. Next to him sat Rude, nursing a beer in silence, but his expression made it quite obvious that he was a little worried about his partners behaviour.

"You know, Reno is not completely wrong." Vincent's voice broke the uneasy silence. "Cloud has been acting strangely lately."

"Yeah, really? When has he not been actin' like that?" Cid drawled in return.

"Maybe." The ex-turk nodded but didn't seem to be convinced. "You wouldn't understand." He added, barely audible but the pilot caught it either way.

"Maybe not, all I know is that you're more gloomy than ever." He said and went back to the pint of beer he had been nursing before.

"Am I now?" Vincent raised a brow and gave the pilot one of his colder looks. He had been dead serious when he said that the other wouldn't understand this. The others, they did worry that something may go wrong, but he knew that with Cloud's past, it was more like _what _will go wrong, not if.

So, of course, he was worried, but tried not to show how much he actually cared about their wayward ex-leader. Vincent was one of the few people, who actually could get close to understanding Cloud because they shared a similar past. Though, it also helped that he had read some of Hojo's files on Cloud though. Of course, he hadn't talked about this, knowing that it would upset his friend, but he needed to know as much as possible about what to expect.

For a little while he pondered if he should talk with Reno about this, but then decided he didn't need to, cause the red-head was rather careless with his musings tonight – and Vincent could easily get the gist of it. He could understand that the red-head was upset, knowing that Tseng and Elena only barely managed to come out alive from their last mission. A mission that set off the ex-turk's internal alarm pretty badly, because of the place they had been sent out to: the Northern Crater.

The ex-turk followed Reno and Rude for a little while, shadowing them more for fun than for any real purpose cause there was nothing on additional information to gain for him, but it couldn't hurt to keep an eye of those two.

Though, soon after this Vincent went off, back on his silent watch, back to watching Cloud from afar. It was something he felt was necessary, even he knew that his friend wouldn't really appreciate if he knew, which why he went never close enough for the ex-SOLDIER to notice him, but close enough that he could be there in time if needed.

* * *

_Sorry, has again some dreaming, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. _

_Mia_


	6. Into the dissonance

_Chapter five of Whispers about Angels. For disclaimer see prequel._

**Warnings:** a little bit of bad language and spoilers for AC.

* * *

-xox_Whispers_about_Angels_xox-

* * *

**Into the dissonance**

* * *

Every action … caused a reaction, from the people, the environment and at last the Planet itself.

Only, it was a rule, most had forgotten when Shinra started to raise from a simple electric company to … something more, a government to rule because of the easy life they'd promised in return.

And at first everything seemed well, but even a fool couldn't assume that drawing the Planet's lifeblood wouldn't have any consequences, which it did. It caused a dissonance in the Lifestream around every reactor and so did the experiments in the laboratories, which were used to creating SOLDIER among other things.

Some were worse than others, but those places like the lab in Nibelheim were almost too painful in the discord that clung to them.

Yes, following that dissonance was all she really needed to do, to find what she was looking for, because every of those places, laboratories stank with it in the Lifestream, stank of life that had been twisted into something other, something monstrous. It was something she had never been aware of, the abnormalities they had caused in their oblivion.

Shinra had no sense for moral, just a hunger for more power, no matter how much was destroyed because of it – and they scientist, who had done Shinra's bidding had obliged, most of them gladly.

Some like herself and Gast had been too innocent, to oblivious to realize what they were about to cause with their work, but most of them had no such morals. Men like Hojo, she thought with horror and guilt, because she had been too stupid to see what that man had been about, that was if he could be called such, a man.

She closed her eyes, forcing the past away, but it wasn't easy, cause it clung to her like some bad omen. It was something she never could get rid of nor could she stop wondering how she could have been that stupid.

Enough of that, she thought, concentrating on her task, which meant to make sure those experiments would be never repeated. The first part of this was easy, because of the places were abandoned, giving easy access to her to destroy every single file and remnant of said experiments.

The files didn't bother her much, but it was sad having to destroy living beings, even if all they were now were monsters that had no longer a chance of any normal life. Then there were those strange moments when the voices pushed her to do things that made no sense, like leaving things behind for whatever reasons. To say that Lucrecia was confused by these things was an understatement, but it wasn't her to decide what needed to be done in order to turn things for the better.

She belonged to Planet after all, ever since her failed suicide and the following years spend sealed in the cave.

Yet, her job was almost done, leaving only one laboratory for her to deal with, which meant she had to return to where everything had begun. No, not the one in Nibelheim, but one in a place that had much more of a history with Shinra, because everything had started in the cursed city of Midgar.

Yes, it was time, she felt, but she couldn't help the uneasy feeling she got when thinking about that place, like something bad was going to happen; once again ...

* * *

xox

* * *

Something bad was indeed about to happen, and – if this were fairy tale it would've been said that it was a dark night with heavy clouds hanging from the skies, when it happened, but it wasn't.

The day when they came to take the children away, but it wasn't anything like that, not even close. It was a day like any other, mostly grey with little sunshine like it was usual in the city of Edge and what was left of Midgar.

It started with Tifa trying to visit Cloud in Aerith's church, only to find it empty beside the flowers and equipment Cloud had left behind. Tifa thought that he was just wandering around, like usual, and moved to leave but was stopped by Marlene.

"Is Cloud hurt?" The little girl asked, pointing at several bloodied rags lying discarded on the floor, which looked like they had been used as bandages or to clean off blood from a wound.

Tifa picked one of these things up, looked at it for a moment or two then placed it back.

"Maybe." She said, not sure what to think about this. She wanted to say more, but they got interrupted by a stranger, staring them down.

"Where's mother?" Asked the stranger, who went by the name Loz.

"Here isn't anybody." Tifa replied after a moment of thinking, and puzzlement what this was about.

The silver-haired stranger asked again, and again, all the while sounding nearly desperate at it. It was bad enough that they thought he was about to cry about this, whatever it was.

Tifa and Loz fought, and for a while they were even-matched, neither of them winning or losing the fight. It was a … nice fight, but that was before the stranger received a call and after that the fight changed to something but the good-natured brawl it was before.

Loz simply cheated – and knocked Tifa out of it, rendering her unconscious long enough for him to take off with the girl and Cloud's materia.

She was left like this, lying still on the floor, surrounded by flowers like they were meant to be guarding her, which wasn't all that far from the truth, but all they could do was soften her fall in the end – and watch. They could only watch, watch her regaining consciousness slowly and then being found by the very person she had come to find in the first place: Cloud.

"What … happened?" He asked, feeling both relieved and guilty to find her like this, alive, but shaken. It was probably not quite right, but he felt that this had only happened because he had been off, too caught up with getting the hang of this blasted wing of his.

More so, Flying seemed a lot easier if you didn't trying to manage it yourself. It didn't help that he had no real clue on how it worked with only one wing; it just did somehow, magically work. It was still hard work, though, making him see birds and dragons with different eyes, too.

"Marlene?" She asked, when she couldn't find the girl anywhere around. "Where's Marlene?"

"I'm sorry," he answered, "but she's not here."

"Cloud …" She began but then trailed off, unable to fight of the feeling of disappointment, even while knowing that he couldn't help it, cause it was just the way her friend was, trying to fight everything alone even if there was really no need to. No, Cloud couldn't help it, but … he could at least try sometimes, she thought.

"He has taken her." Tifa said finally, clenching her fists in a gesture of sheer frustration. "He looked like _him_, just like _him_..." Anger was colouring her voice, anger that made Cloud flinch away from her. No, she didn't have to explain who she meant with _him_, but she didn't see the Cloud's eyes darken with something she would've recognized as guilt if she had seen it.

* * *

xox

* * *

Cloud couldn't stand the thought of her looking at him like that, with disdain and hurt, but what hurt more was that there wasn't anything he could do about it. He regretted now that he hadn't tried to talk about things, about how he felt. Only, it didn't matter anymore, cause now it was her, who refused to talk, clothing herself in silence that sometimes seemed so thick that he could cut it.

There was more to it, all too familiar, because she had been like this right after Nibelheim had happened, right after the first rage had passed to leave her planning on how to get back on Shinra.

Planning, he knew she was doing that behind the wall of silence – again, nothing he could change, so he did the only thing he could and left to follow the those remnants. He wished he could forget the feeling of guilt about what happened, because he had known about these men, but hadn't said anything about then.

Vincent followed Cloud that night as well, when he went after the children, to get them back. He wasn't sure if Cloud knew, but if he did, he didn't seem to care that he was being followed. The ex-turk couldn't help, but frown at the way his friend seemed to know where he needed to go, which made Vincent think back to the time when they had chased Sephiroth.

Back then Cloud had always known in which direction they had to go to find their quarry, and he couldn't help, but feel that this was a similar case, with the three men being related to Sephiroth if their looks were anything to go by. Jenova's cells linking them to his blonde friend, which was why Cloud was able to follow them this easily.

Then the fight started – and after that Vincent was certain that something was definitely wrong. These three, Remnant's, that's what he over heard Shinra calling them. Shinra – he cursed at that thought, nothing good ever came from them.

Well, they were all acting very strangely – and Cloud seemed to have trouble fighting them as he seemed to be slightly out of balance. It was that kind of 'out of balance', which usually happened if one had been seriously injured or had a major change in one's body-structure.

It was bad enough that Vincent had to interfere when they managed to hurl the blonde to the floor, hitting him harder than he first thought, enough that Cloud had trouble to get up again. Vincent forced down a curse after realizing that something serious was wrong with his friend, even more than what he had expected … after the church.

For a long moment the blonde laid motionless on the ground and it was more enough time for the remnant to come charging down on him with a vengeance.

The silver-haired man never reached him, because when he reached the place Cloud was gone.

A whirlwind of familiar ghostly crimson took him away, rescuing him in a rather spectacular manner at that. It looked like ex-turk came down at them with blazing guns and not just one gun, even if it wasn't an ordinary one. Note to say, the three silver haired remnants weren't exactly stupid and retreated at that, knowing that this opponent wasn't worth the struggle, not now after they had gotten what they wanted anyway: the children, who shared Jenova's strain. They were not enough … for reunion, but they were a beginning, a means to get closer to Mother.

_Mother_ wasn't here, but Kadaj had a feeling on where to look for her … and that it wouldn't be long until they would find her. Soon, very soon they would be complete for the first time.

That left Cloud alone with his rescuer, his dark haired pale skinned friend, who looked very much like a vampire even if he wasn't anything close to one. No, Vincent didn't like being called that, but Chaos tended to get 'ideas' whenever peopled used that word for his host – and it was never a good thing for the sarcastical demon to get in those kinds of moods. No, certainly not a good idea, and most had enough common sense to avoid calling the ex-turk anything but by his given name; all, but Cid, of course. Strangely, the pilot seemed to get away with it most of the time, getting nothing more but a dirty look and harsh reply for it in return.

"Vincent." Cloud breathed, for some reason feeling unsure about meeting his friends eyes. Vincent seemed to be always able to see so much more beyond the obvious, thus it was hard to hide anything from the ex-turk. He was tired of hiding, tired of being alone with this shit of being different, but he knew that there was no other way.

The ex-turk just nodded in return, otherwise keeping quiet, just keeping him company, pretending to watch the forest around them. It was deception, Cloud thought, knowing that he was waiting for him to say something even if the blonde was unsure what for he was waiting now.

"It has been a while." Cloud found himself saying after awhile. It was odd, but for once he didn't like the silence between them. No, that wasn't right it was the things Vincent managed to say without words that had made him feel uncomfortable, but at the same time he was glad he was here. So he had to say something, anything, even if it made little sense.

"Yes." The red cloaked figure agreed. It was not more than a whisper, nearly a purr in the way his voice vibrated in his throat. His eyes asking questions he didn't voice out aloud, but Cloud wasn't that stupid that he didn't caught the way the ex-turk lingered on his left shoulder, eyeing it as if was a foreign animal of sorts.

"I'm fine." Cloud objected, trying to sound more sure of himself than he really felt. He knew Vincent could probably feel that he was lying, but he couldn't just admit it this easily, cause he knew he wouldn't be able to stop, breaking down. No, he thought, he had to be strong; couldn't ever allow himself to be weak again, not ever again. He could deal with this – and he would be fine, even if he wasn't there yet.

"Are you?" Vincent said calmly but with a sarcastic undertone. The look in his red eyes said clearly that Cloud did not look fine in him.

The blonde stared back for long moment, then finally shook his head at this, knowing that there was no way around this, around Vincent's serious eyes on him now.

"Stigma?" Vincent reached out with his human hand, touching the arm he knew something was wrong about it or the blonde wouldn't have been this off centre earlier. "There's lifestream in our bodies ..." He began but stopped when he realized that his friend didn't show any reaction of pain – and Geostigma was definitely painful and it also didn't quite match with the things he had seen in the church when he had seen his friend unconscious there. Whatever this was it had to be serious, because of all the blood he had found on the floor there.

"No." Cloud said, not liking the broken sound of his own voice, not liking the defeat and near despair in it. He almost wished it wasn't so, because, just because he thought _this_ was worse, worse than dying. Hell, dying would mean he wasn't turning into a monster, or worse, because of the cursed Jenova cells in his body and the sense of foreboding he felt about it.

"It's worse." He finally managed to say and removed his own tattered cloak in one swift move, thus revealing what was beneath. "So much worse." He sighed in defeat then frowned a bit, concentrating on pushing _it _out. It still hurt every time he did this although the pain seemed to dim a little with each time the wing came out.

To give him credit, Vincent Valentine did not so much as blink at the sight of the dark appendage that was attached to Cloud's left shoulder, but a little widening of his eyes.

"I didn't expect ... that." Vincent said, trying not to stare too much at it, but really couldn't help it because it looked rather fascinating to him. The wing, it reminded him a little of the ones, which belonged to his demon, Chaos, yet this one was different. It was a dark wing, sure, but only because of its colour; there wasn't anything demonic about it. It was covered by shimmering black scales any dragon would be proud to call his own.

"Neither did I."

"It looks nice." The ex-turk said after a while and thus surprising his friend once again.

"Really? I think it looks too much like a demon-wing to me."

"Yes, really." Vincent replied with one of his rare smiles and then reached out to touch the wing, just a little below the shoulder he had grabbed before. "Here, see how the scales shine ... and there's even golden highlights there..."

"Whatever," Cloud muttered, interrupting the ex-Turk's word flow for he couldn't help but think that it really didn't matter what he thought it looked like, not if it shouldn't haven't been there at all.

"It's abnormal, not human..." He muttered more to himself than to Vincent. Next thing he knew was that he was slapped – that's right, slapped like in bitch-slapped, something he'd never expected from the brooding ex-turk next to him.

"That's bull-shit, Cloud, and you know it, too." Cloud could only stare at his companion, hearing him swear like that – it was rather unsettling to see him this upset. Maybe Vincent was right and they were still human at their core, but he couldn't help feeling a little bit of doubt, though. He really wanted to, really, but the fear refused to go away that easily, even if the sting of on his cheek reminded him to stop brooding so much. Vincent surely could pack a punch, even with his human hand.

"Okay." He agreed after a while, well, at least he tried to sound serious but he knew that there was nothing else he could do with his friend in a mood like that, not that he wasn't right but ... well, things were just not that simple. In a way it was almost funny to see Vincent that loud for once, funny enough that he almost laughed out loud; he didn't feel happy at all.

"Cloud?" Vincent interrupted his out-of-character rant, only to eye his friend with wary eyes, like some species of animal he'd never seen before. Had he just seen a smile there? He was glad to see it yet, couldn't help but worry seeing as Cloud still wasn't meeting his eyes.

"Are you all right?" Yes, it was a stupid question and he knew that he probably shouldn't ask it, but again, he couldn't help it. Sometimes he didn't know why he came to care this much about Cloud at all, maybe it was their similar background or maybe it was something else he just couldn't see, yet.

"I don't know, Vincent." He answered truthfully. It was the only answer he could give at this point, not that this was anything new to him. He guessed that there was no such thing like an easy way for him, not now and not in the past. Cloud liked to think he was cursed, but if Vincent thought that maybe, just maybe part of the curse could be a blessing, who was he to object to it?

Next, he knew, his body reacted before he knew what was happening, drawing First Tsurugi out of its scabbard and turning around to face whatever enemy he sensed approaching only to freeze in shock when he realized that it was no enemy at all, he was facing. No, instead he found himself gazing into the large eyes of Marlene, who in turn stared back at him with some emotion he couldn't place. Shock, it had to be shock, he thought then blinked and relaxed slowly.

* * *

The next thing, he'd thought he'd never forget, but he wished he'd never seen it there, in her big all too innocent child-eyes. It was fear, clear as day; sweet little Marlene was looking at him with fear, which was too close too panic for his taste. It felt like he couldn't breathe ... for it made him hurt inside.

"Marlene." He tried to calm her but didn't know what to say to make the fear go away. Hell, he didn't even know what she saw she was so afraid of. "I won't hurt you." His voice nearly broke at that.

"I-I know." The girl tried to brave her emotions and fought her racing heartbeat to calm down. It was like she was trying to tell herself that this was just Cloud, just the same guy, who took care of her and Denzel even if he looked pretty scary now. It wasn't that he really looked that much different but it was his eyes, which had alarmed her.

They looked too much like the eyes of those bad men who'd whisked her, Denzel and all the other kids away. They looked not entirely human. True, Cloud's eyes were still blue, just like they always were, but the irises had changed into slits.

"It's your eyes." She said, looking away from his eyes – and knew it had been wrong to say that, because she she could feel his grip on her tightening until it was almost painful.

"My eyes?" Cloud thought he sounded stupid, repeating Marlene's words like this but he ... just couldn't help it. He really got caught off guard with her acting like this in front of him. It just wasn't like it's supposed to be, he thought. The girl had proved to be pretty calm and cool even back at the times when they were chasing an insane Sephiroth – and afterwards, when Geostigma rose its ugly head she'd just calmly taken to taking care of Denzel.

He hadn't thought that something could upset him anymore like the things he had gone through in the past, but it did, more than having Vincent's curious looks at his wing – his wing... damn. Had she seen that too? He frowned, checking his left shoulder and almost sighed in relieve seeing that it was safely hidden away.

"Cloud ... your eyes, they look like cat eyes," Marlene wanted to say but … stayed silent instead, just staring at him like a rabbit might be doing so when facing a snake.

"You okay?" He asked again, getting worried by her reaction because he didn't know why she reacted like she just did. He hadn't changed in any other way but that damned wing and that was safely out of view.

In return she just nodded then tried to move away from him, but couldn't because he was still holding her.

He felt numb and what came after this had been a blur ... until they were back in Edge. He had just shut down, pushed everything away, every feeling, pretended that it didn't happen, that he hadn't heard those words. It was illusionary, of course, but it was everything he could do or else he would go insane.

He was near the edge, he was very aware of it, but he pushed that thought back as well and focussed on the now and here, on the moment, on the fight. Fighting, he mused, but it was what he did best. It was like a drug he was addicted to. He drowned his pain, his sorrow in it, just like others did with alcohol.

But unlike alcohol it did nothing for him to forget the looks on his friends faces, looks of uncertainty and even fear they tried to hide but he'd recognized them all the same. He clutched his hands harder around First Tsurugi, trying not to show that indeed he had seen their reactions. The way Marlene had run to Tifa as soon he'd stopped Fenrir enough for her to safely dismount. The way Tifa had frowned at her in reaction only to give him a very worried look, so very similar like the way she had looked at him after the Black Materia incident.

Did they think that … he was under Sephiroth's control again?

Cloud really thought he'd left that behind; guess he had been wrong there as well. Back then he had deserved that, but now? He knew after Marlene's reaction to him and her words that his eyes must have changed to something similar Sephiroth's, but did that matter really that much to his friends? Couldn't they see that he had no control about what had been done to him and that it was only because of that he was changing now...

He felt strangely cold ... and more than little bit empty. He couldn't help but notice that the only people who'd acted differently were all dead now, including Sephiroth, even if he kept visiting him in his dreams. Cloud shrugged at that, thinking that they were probably right in a way. His mind was still rather messed up, even after all this time – and who knows what was still lurking around up there? So, maybe they had a reason to be worried about him, right. He fought down a very unmanly giggle, thinking that they'd probably freak if they knew that he'd been meeting Sephiroth in the Lifestream more than once – and had enjoyed it as well.

Yeah, they'd think him to be crazy if they knew that.

Crazy, he wasn't exactly that even if he wasn't exactly sane most of the time, not with the way Hojo messed up his mind and body. His body now, he thought, wasn't exactly human anymore, not with the wing he even now could feel all too clearly under his shoulder blade. He didn't feel exactly human anymore, even if Zack had tried his best to convince him otherwise.

So, maybe he was like a wild animal, sort of or was he a weapon? Yes, maybe that was what he was.

Fight, weapons were meant to fight, so he ... would just do that, fight, just fight and forget everything else not important to the battle.

Maybe the pain would vanish then as well.

* * *

_I'm not really sure about this chapter, but this as good I can manage right now. It's also kind of a filler chapter, sorry._

_Hope you enjoy._

_Mia_

_

* * *

_

_Edit: Made it a little clearer about which hand Vincent used to slap Cloud in this chapter. Thanks to _-Yuna's Reincarnation-1,_ who asked about this._


	7. Taking Flight

_Chapter six of Whispers about Angels. For disclaimer see prequel._

**Warnings:** some bad language (mostly Cid) and spoilers for AC

* * *

**Taking Flight**

* * *

In a way … this was just like always, them getting together for the action, even if said action meant that they had to fight their own summon, which was now wrecking havoc on what was left of Midgar.

This one alone wouldn't be too bad, really, but they had to take care of all the little children, they found just in the middle of this. It seemed that they had been used to show the summon the way, at least that was what it looked like, with the way they had been standing around the Meteor monument before the dragon took off with it.

Actually, Rude and Reno had been there first, fighting the beast in an almost comical way, but then decided to go after the silver-haired men, who summoned the beast, instead of trying to fight a dragon that ate Rude's shades for breakfast.

"Bahamut ... Of all things it had to be bloody fucking Bahamut again?" The pilot muttered another curse at the sight of the bigger growing summon, forming the familiar enormous dragon they remembered. The thing looked still as ugly as last time he had seen it, he thought then shook his head before charging at the beast.

Fine, they just have to defeat it again. He nearly chuckled at that, almost, feeling elated at the idea to fight together again.

And fight they did. Barret shooting at it like the walking artillery he was, Red and Yuffie charging in large jumps after it, even Cait Sith was along for the ride. If they were any other people Cid would've called them mad, well they were, but that was just them, not that he was any better.

Good old Avalanche, coming together to save the day once again, he chuckled at the thought then went on to give the beast another taste of his spear.

Tifa defending Denzel on the ground, then joining them when the beast took flight once again, being followed by Cid and Vincent, so they wouldn't let the summon out of their sight. The latter wasn't easy with all the buildings and remnants of builds to keep in mind why keeping watch.

Yeah, they were doing a fair job at annoying the poor beast, so everything was like always, that was until he joined the fight. Cid couldn't help but notice that something was a bit off, different than the other times they fought together.

It was enough for his thoughts to flicker back to those words murmured by a drunken turk not so long ago. He hadn't thought about that, until now, because of the way Cloud moved, fluid yet still strangely abrupt. So to say, it wasn't any way a human should move, but the most eerie thing was that it mirrored the moves of the great beast, Bahamut. Cid cursed at himself, knowing that it was absurd and he was surely going mad – yet it was there, right in front of his eyes.

Yeah, sure, Spikey moved like a fucking dragon, well, sort of. He thought it couldn't get any worse.

He was wrong; oh, so very wrong.

"Fly." The vampire said – and fly he did, the boy, only it wasn't anything the pilot had imagined it would be, for Cloud really did fly, really fucking flying, spawning a damned wing and all. He took off to join the dragon in the air, fighting it an way that was strangely reminiscent of a dog fight between planes, just like they had used during the war with with Wutai, with the way they were circling each other.

Only this fight was done in utter silence with the only sounds being flapping wings, Cloud's swords slicing through skin and the dragon's roars while attacking his smaller opponent.

This was sick, so sick, yeah. Men weren't made to fly like that, weren't meant to sprout wings and take to the sky like they were born to it.

Yet, blondie did just that. More so he seemed to enjoy it, too, thinking that he'd seen Cloud smile for a moment.

Then it was over and Bahamut gone for now, back to where the summon had come from, where ever that might be. The pilot waited a moment for Cloud to came down, back to them.

That moment turned into a few then many … cause he didn't came back down. No, instead he took off to a place further down to what had been once Midgar's core.

Cid cursed at that, making his way down, to wait for the others.

* * *

xxx

* * *

Rufus smirked all the while watching the expression on Kadaj's face change from satisfaction to something close to horror and then followed trough with pulling out the gun, he had hidden under his suit, to shoot at the box.

He missed … because the remnant managed to push him away to jump after the box in an desperate action of sorts, Rufus would've thought silly if he did have the time to do so, but he didn't.

He didn't because he was pushed aside by something, no someone … someone he knew.

"Wha-!" Rufus found himself unable to process what just happened, unable to do anything but stare down at them, instead of doing something useful like shooting after that remnant, Kadaj, once again. That was Strife, who had been following that remnant, he was sure about, but he didn't think that he would be that insane to jump after him as he did.

He couldn't move for some reason. All he could do was watch in a mix of confusion, awe and finally dread when the ex-SOLDIER grabbed Kadaj and the box to fly away with them.

_Strife flew... he really flew. Like a bird, no, more like a dragon with leathery wings sounding hollow in the fierce wind surrounding the skyscrapers. _

_It was not without beauty, if not for the meaning behind it._

Rufus would've been puzzled how he did this with only one wing if he hadn't seen it before, more than just once. Only, he didn't have time to really think about it because next he knew he was following them, falling to what seemed like his death or might have were it not for two of his most loyal turks, Rude and Reno, stopping his fall.

Then things speed up, almost a blur to him so he didn't really know what happened. Maybe it was the Geostigma, maybe something else, but all he could think about was that he was at the mercy of an seemingly insane Cloud Strife and weapon-less as well. It was stupid, losing his gun like that, really, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Whatever, Rufus really didn't know how exactly he had ended like this. May be he had been to surprised by what he'd just witnessed, too shocked by what happened to prevent what happened next, but somehow he found himself on the back of a motorcycle, holding for dear life to the not quite sane driver. It didn't help that he was far more fragile than he liked to, not that he could do anything about that.

Rufus had no clue where Cloud was heading for but, somehow, he felt it could be nothing good. He had a very bad feeling about that. Just like the way the blonde ex-SOLDIER had left that remnant behind, or maybe it had been the other way around.

Kadaj didn't seem like he actually wanted to come along. He looked kind of tired and very much like the child he supposed the remnant looked like on the outside. The boy had muttered something about needing to find his brothers and left.

He would've asked where they were going, that was if he didn't think it would've been such a bad idea to do that. The person in front might look and act mostly like the Cloud Strife he knew, but Rufus was sure that something was very wrong with the ex-SOLDIER. Strife had acted ... almost cheerfully now, like he was very excited about something nobody else had a clue about.

He knew there was little he could do right now, but Rufus Shinra wasn't one to give up, ever so he just played along, hoping to find an opening to win this game, whatever it was.

The last thing he noticed before he blacked out was that they were heading straight for the shore.

* * *

xxx

* * *

That was a close call, the last Cetra thought, watching Cloud riding out of Edge. Yes, she was sure a moment later and who knows what would've happened – and even now all she could hope was that things would work out for the best. Yet, it had been a very risky move, more than she wished and she wouldn't have done it if there had been any other option, but there hadn't been. It's just that she just couldn't do that any longer, watching him slipping farther every day with nothing for her to stop it.

Yes, so she had done the one thing, she never thought she would do one day, even if she knew that _he _wasn't exactly evil at his core, just another victim to the deadly thing, which had taken away her ancestors so many years ago. So, yes, it was a good thing that Aerith was a good enough watcher to become aware of how strong the blonde's bond had grown with the Calamity's son, hoping it would be enough to ground them both in the end.

"You know, I never thought you for a gambler." A familiar voice said to her, watching her with kind blue eyes.

"I'm not, Zack," she said, "but there wasn't really any other option." Zack was right, because it was high stake gamble, but they did have little choice at their current situation.

"It's really that bad, isn't it?" He muttered, sounding out-of-character serious for once. He swallowed, thinking about what would happen if this didn't work out right but then forced himself to let go of that depressive idea. "Cloud's stronger than he thinks, you know. He will fight this."

Zack tried to force back the worry about his friend, but it was harder, much harder than he thought. Maybe it was because of what he remembered happening to Sephiroth, remembered that the man had been his friend as well. He couldn't help but wonder how much of the old Sephiroth was left, no that was wrong, he hoped that there was left enough for them to win this time. Damn, he wished he could do more but ... there wasn't much he could do from this side of the Lifestream. He was just a normal spirit, not an Ancient like Aerith. Zack knew all he could do was watch, watch and hope for the best.

"I know." She agreed tonelessly, praying that Zack would continue to be right. Besides what most people believed, Ancients were not Gods and she could do only so much, even if it was more than normal people could do. She nodded then, more to herself than to Zack. "Jenova is now more of a spirit, clinging to the remnants of her physical body. I think, she has been that way for a very long time now."

"Maybe, but this 'spirit' was strong enough to drive people insane." Zack retorted – and when he said people he meant no one other but the great General Sephiroth, of course.

"I wonder." She nodded, thinking that no one could really know what exactly had really happened. "I sometimes wonder what really happened."

"Hojo." Zack said with ice in his voice. "Hojo, is what happened. It's all because of that man, no, monster." To say he hated that curse of a scientist would be the understatement of the century.

* * *

xxx

* * *

"Where's Spikey?" A gruff voice asked. Barret Wallace sounded both upset and stupefied to what had just happened. It wasn't right for one of them to vanish like that, not after all they had been through. First he had to shield his eyes against the sheer brightness of that explosion the beast had sent against Cloud and then it was gone, in a blink of an eye so it seemed, leaving him to stare at the empty sky for several seconds until he realized that _they _were both gone; gone, just like that, poof.

"Don't know. He went after those Sephiroth-lookalikes." The pilot shrugged, forcing back a more colourful phrase at the sight of Tifa's disapproving look. Oh, right she wouldn't have him cuss in front of the kids, right. "He flew after them." Cid sounded almost hysterical at that, just like he had seen a ghost, which wasn't that far off, since people weren't supposed to just take off like that, but ... that had been exactly what had happened, right after that damned dragon vanished into thin air.

"He ... flew?" The bulky man repeated, staring at the pilot as if he'd just gone nuts or something close to that, then he blinked, once, twice only to finally shake his head in a way, which would've been funny if it weren't for the fact that it was damn scary to see someone like Barret Wallace doing it.

"Are you drunk?" He finally asked after trying to come up with a logical explanation for Cid's weird behaviour. He thought he had never seen him this ... thunderstruck since Meteor happened so in turn it had to have been very bad whatever had happened to make him act like this.

"I wished I was." The pilot said while pulling himself back together, but his expression continued being grim, not that he was very cheerfully under any normal circumstances, though. Scratching his chin he turned his head a little, only to see the other members of Avalanche gathering around him on the nearby steal constructions which had belonged to one of the many buildings that had once reached up to the upper plate. There was nothing much left of it and some of them spotted new wounds from their recent fight with that summon creature, Bahamut.

"I really wished, wished that's only a bad dream," Cid repeated, while dragging on his cigarette like his life depended on it – well, maybe not his life, but his sanity for sure. "He's gone nuts, friggin' bloody nuts to chase after'em like that."

"So, Spikey lost it finally?"

"Seems so." Another voice crept up to them like the crimson shadow he was. The ex-turk had been listening so far without making them aware of his presence, showing no signs of shock of any kind whatsoever. No, he wasn't really surprised, even if he had silently hoped things would've turned out better than this. "The real question is what we're going to do about it." Vincent added in a voice, which sounded as smooth and calm as ever.

"Cloud is our friend." Tifa's voice wavered uncharacteristically, showing how much this did bother her. "We can't just abandon him like, like he's ..."

"A monster?" Vincent arched a dark eyebrow at her, eyeing her with something akin to worry only to sigh a moment later, seeing that they did have to have accept the facts no matter how dire they were. It wasn't like he had given up on Cloud all together, but he needed them to see that their friend was far more vulnerable to Jenova than they had thought him to be.

"Tifa, I really wished that things were different, but Cloud has been changing, maybe even more than we know about. To be honest, he should have been affected by Geostigma knowing how much he was altered by Hojo, but ... he isn't affected by it at all." He didn't show it, but he hoped that their friend would be stronger than the alien cells in his body, but the facts were too pressing to just ignore them. Vincent didn't like it, but if Cloud turned out to be a threat he would do anything to eliminate that threat.

"They ... called him brother..." Another voice interrupted, and it sounded way too young to belong to anyone of them, so they all but stared dumbstruck at the little girl, who had managed to sneak up to them.

"Marlene?" Tifa asked, frowning at how mature the child suddenly looked. "Who said that to whom?"

"Those silver haired guys,who took me and Denzel. They ... they called Cloud their brother." Marlene explained. "He doesn't look much like them, but the cat eyes." The girl looked innocent and completely unaware of the shocked looks this got her from them.

"They're not his brothers." Tifa said, maybe a little more forcefully than intended, but she couldn't help remembering meeting one of them. It had been upsetting to see someone who looked so innocent and devious, almost evil, at once – and to think that they could be actually related to Cloud was ... scary. Yes, she did notice something weird about Cloud's eyes earlier, but hadn't given it any further thought, because they had been busy fighting and all.

It was a scary thought as well, so she pushed it quickly away.

Tifa refused to believe that Cloud could be anything like those silver haired men, that he could become like Sephiroth. Yes, she did refuse to believe that, but ... she couldn't forget how Cloud had fought Bahamut, flying and with a lethal kind of grace so equal to the great beast's. It was just too much of coincidence, that Cloud now had both a wing and cat eyes, just too much like their arch nemesis Sephiroth.

Whatever, they couldn't afford to panic an so they tried their best to calm down and went back to where they had last seen their friend. They needed to find out what really happened, hoping that maybe, just maybe things would turn out not at as bad as they thought. Everything was eerily quiet around them, which which should be a good thing but then again, it was a little bit too quiet.

The quiet was almost tranquil, some strange sort of relief, but it felt pretty much like the quiet before a storm, so it was a bitter-sweet thing – and it didn't last all that long in the end.

Actually it was rather short and only the eerie feel to it made it seem to last longer, but as soon as they reached the ground it was gone, because they were no longer alone.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed this, even if it's a little shorter. _

_Mia_


	8. Chasing Shadows

Chapter seven of Whispers about Angels.

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII and all its characters still belong to Square-Enix and I'm just borrowing them for fun. No profit is made with this fic.

**Warnings:** some bad language and spoilers for AC (just a little).

* * *

**Chasing shadows**

* * *

_Today_ … seemed a good day for surprises, or maybe a bad day considering that those surprises were mostly bad news, which again was not really a wonder, cause most things here were. Whatever the reason for those, they certainly hadn't expected to find one of them there, sitting almost innocently on one of the remains of what were once proud buildings, back when Midgar was at its finest.

"What are you doing here?" Tifa couldn't help but ask the silver-haired teen, half inquiring half gasping. She also wasn't sure if what she was feeling was shock or anger; maybe it was a little of both, mingled with a good portion of puzzlement because he looked too innocent for her to be comfortable with. It was almost like he was a different person, but that didn't seem quite right. No, she thought, whatever the reason he was here right now … couldn't be anything good.

Everybody was looking or more so, staring, at the teen, who didn't seem to acknowledge them and kept staring at the floor. Only after several moments, which might be mere seconds or several minutes because of how long it felt, he looked up, slowly and in a way that said that he didn't care about anything they might decide to do about this, him being here. Truly, how stupid did they think him to be to be worried about something ordinary like that, now that everything was … as it should have been from the beginning.

Yes, Kadaj thought, everything was going to be just like Mother wanted it to be, It didn't matter that his brothers were still missing, because he knew that they were still alive, even if he didn't exactly know were they were right now.

_Everything would be fine in the end._

"It's too late..." The silver haired teen answered finally, sounding nearly emotionless yet he looked strangely lost at these words; pretty much like people would feel lost after they lost their purpose they had in life yet somewhat different, like he was almost happy to feel this way. He was fingering Souba in what looked like an almost nervous gesture of sorts – and for some reason he wasn't meeting their gazes but instead kept his eyes firmly focused on his weapon.

"What!" Another voice, much harsher sounding, interrupted. "What are ye talking about?" Barret eyed the teen with more than a little suspicion, knowing that whatever had caused the teen to act like this couldn't be good, not that anything involving Shinra or Jenova could be any good any time soon in eyes, though.

"Big brother's with Mother now." Kadaj stated calmly, looking up for the first time since they met him here. Shadows seemed to loom around his lone figure at these words, almost like they wanted to give them even more weight, but that might be just an illusion brought up by the gloomy thoughts the words brought up all along.

"I thought you wanted to resurrect Sephiroth." A third voice asked, coming seemingly out of nowhere, pretty much like the owner of it, gazing at the only remnant with serious ruby eyes.

"We ... don't need to, not anymore." Kadaj shook his head, looking down once again. "We don't need to because ..." He smiled at his words, which made his look like the teen he really was now. He was indeed happy, happy for the first time in his life, because he felt that they would be together soon, Mother, his two older brothers and the three of them. Yes, his family would finally be complete.

"He's already back, isn't he?" Vincent continued, sounding as calm as always while asking the very words the others thought about, but didn't want to speak aloud. The calm was only on the outside, but there was nothing giving away how he felt about this, nothing of the sadness, anger, and the mixed emotions that belonged to his four demons was there. There was only calm determination to do what was needed; duty coming first, because it was the only way.

"Yeah, he is." The remnant smirked at that before his look turned once again serious. "Yes, he's out there." He sounded nearly hysterical at that, but no one but Kadaj himself knew why.

"Sephiroth's with Jenova?" Everybody gasped in a mix of horror, shock and not little dread at these words, which was little bit odd because it was something they should have expected by now.

Again the remnant surprised them when he shook his head at that. "No, I don't think so. I think he's a little angry with Mother."

"How ... do you know this?" Tifa asked, frowning at the silver haired youth. No, she didn't know what to make out of this or if she should believe it at all.

"How?" Kadaj repeated, frowning slightly like he was thinking about the meaning of the question. "I don't know how. I just know he is, just like I know that he's calling big brother to him."

The remnant didn't get to say anything more because they were interrupted by a pair of angry, disturbed looking pair of turks. What ever, something bad must have happened to leave them in such a state so everyone froze, staring at them but didn't seem to find the courage to ask what exactly it was that happened.

"Where is he?" Reno nearly growled. He was simmering with fury and it was only the knowledge that he knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that they weren't responsible for the hero's insane actions that held him back from taking further actions. Yeah, insane, he thought, fighting back a shiver at the memory of it but he couldn't stop thinking about that look and what it meant.

Strife had acted alarmingly like one of these blasted remnants, no, he was worse, Reno decided. The way the blonde had absent-mindedly caressed the box containing the last remnants of that alien bitch, the way he had smiled then – that had been more than unnerving. Worse, Reno was a turk, so he couldn't help noticing that Cloud's eyes looked a lot like Sephiroth's now. Oh, yes, they were still blue, but they possessed the same damned slotted irises and he even had a fucking wing, just like the late one-winged-angel.

"Who? Who did what?" Tifa frowned, feeling more confused than ever for she'd never seen the redhead lose it like this. It simply wasn't like Reno to act emotional, so, something big had to have happened to have him into a fit like this. It just didn't fit his image of the deadly turk he's supposed to be.

"Blondie, of course." The turk spat out. It sounded more like a curse than anything else. Reno looked like he was about to attack but he was pulled back by his partner, placing a firm hand on his shoulder and all.

"He'd gone all Sephiroth on us for all I care, stark raving mad." Reno retorted, snorting at that. Yeah, that was right, they'd be probably dead as well if they weren't turks and very well trained at that. Maybe not exactly, but Cloud had been on the verge of killing him and Rude just seconds before he froze in his motions only to turn around, then pulled the boss in one smooth motion on his bike and left with him. Whatever that was, it certainly had saved him and Rude, but he couldn't help feeling that it wouldn't turn out as anything good.

"Tifa, it's Cloud, he took Rufus." Rude explained with a voice, thick with tightly controlled emotion. "He'd just took off with him on that bike of his." He was fingering one of his shades, but didn't put it on like he'd usually do. It was a sure sign of the anger he held inside, anger which wasn't so much about what happened, but the fact that he hadn't seen it coming even while all the signs had been in plain view for everybody to see.

"He ...did what?" The reply came in muted voices, which just showed how shocked by the idea of their friend was behaving like that, that it felt unreal, like everything had just been a bad dream.

Well, they knew that it wasn't, but it was the sheer helplessness to stop what was happening that had them in a tight grip. Monsters they could fight, even Sephiroth and Jenova, but Cloud? He was their friend, even if he seemed insane now, so how could they fight that?

"That ... can't be right..." Tifa muttered, fighting to keep calm but it was hard, seeing as this sort of thing reminded her so much of those times during their hunt when Cloud had been behaving strangely. Worse, part of her was wondering if she could've stopped some of this if she hadn't been so frustrated and had forced him to talk about his, about their issues. She shook her head in another bitter, helpless gesture of defeat, knowing that all these thoughts were useless now.

"Sure it is, Teef," Reno retorted and snorted once again. "Took him, right after he fucking tried to kill us."

"He ... tried to kill you?" Vincent interrupted, sounding calm as ever but he couldn't help the curiosity out of his voice or maybe he'd added that on purpose as well. "What did you two do?"

"Reno isn't lying, Valentine. We just tried saving the boss, nothing more." Rude interrupted then frowned, looking at a small hand-held device he held in his hand. "And we better stop lamenting about what happened and start doing something, cause he's taking Rufus abroad now." Yes, there was no misunderstanding seeing as the small dot on the green screen has left the shore and was now heading towards the continent on the other side.

* * *

xxx

* * *

When Rufus Shinra woke he hadn't recognized his surroundings at first, feeling a little dislocated after what had happened. He could only notice that they were on a ship of sorts and obviously in one of its cargo holds as well. The smell of it was a death-give-away for sure.

Where was Strife? He frowned, realizing that he was indeed alone again. He was alone with an empty room and strangely hollow sounding sounds which could be only the ship's machines, which also made him realize that they had to have left the shore for quite a while.

"Why did he this?" He mouthed to himself, unable to come up with an explanation that made actually sense, but the closed thing he could came up with was actually almost too frightening to consider. Rufus Shinra realized that he must've been more exhausted than he thought to have been caught by surprise that often in just a few hours or was a day now?

"Why?" He asked aloud into the silence surrounding him, not really expecting any answer but flinched when he saw something, someone moving towards him. Strife really wasn't that tall so why did he seem to loom above him now? Rufus thought, trying hard to find to something to distract him from the sense of something other, something not entirely _human_ glinting in those pale eyes.

"I don't exactly know, Shinra." Cloud's voice sounded strangely void of emotion, an effect, which was only amplified with the metallic echoes caused by the ship's cargo space.

"Why did you take her?" His cool blue eyes were watching the last Shinra with something akin to intense curiosity mixed with something else ... like hurt? It was almost like Cloud didn't know how he should feel that Rufus had taken Jenova's remnants from the Crater like he had done. Part of him was angry about the foolishness of this action while the other part of him was mad that he'd dared to take her away from him, which was madness of course, but he couldn't help it.

"Why did I ..." Rufus began, at first not sure what he's referring to then blinked while realizing that Strife had to mean the remnants of Jenova his turks had retrieved from the crater. "Hope, I suppose." He finally said, gesturing towards the tell-tale signs of his Geostigma that was eating his flesh away.

"I hoped to find a cure somehow. You know it's an overreaction of ones body to the Jenova Cells, which causes this disease and ..." He trailed off, thinking of how the man facing him now had more of them than anybody else, but he seemed not affected by this plaque at all, just like those three silver-haired Sephiroth clones. By what he could gather from Hojo's files Strife was one as well, albeit a failed one, but seeing him like this made Rufus question that fact. The blonde didn't look much like a failure to him.

Maybe Hojo didn't fail after all, not that that was a soothing thought, no, not at all. He heard that scientist sometimes used to label experiments as failed, which scared them somehow, not that Rufus could imagine anything scaring Hojo, but well, it was a possibility. Or maybe it just hadn't been the result the scientist had been looking for?

"A cure?" Cloud frowned at him then nodded, looking strangely at ease and more calm than he ought to be. "I know I shouldn't but somehow I believe you." He said then smirked at the obvious unease the other blonde showed on his face. "Well, she doesn't think you deserve one, a cure I mean."

"She?" Rufus stared at him with open shock written all over his face, which was almost comical seeing that the signs had been there all along and he really should have known better than to be surprised by this happening. Maybe he was more exhausted then he thought, but it certainly was a bad sign about the state of his mental health that something like this could take him by surprise.

"Oh, yes, did you really believe that she was be gone for good?" Cloud laughed at this, thus surprising Rufus once again and it would've amused him greatly under any other circumstances, but not like this. It wasn't a pleasing sound, no, instead it chilled him to the bones for it sounded too much like Sephiroth had laughed on that recording they had were he killed his old man.

Not that Rufus had ever cared about his father, though, but he didn't have a dead wish either.

* * *

xxx

* * *

Back in Edge Cloud's friends were still rather much in shock and somehow did all but stare at the pair of Turks, practically forgetting the one single remaining remnant on the other side. Kadaj looked rather uncomfortable, but it was also rather obvious that the others seemed to ignore him now. It was the perfect chance to sneak away, which he did to finally do what he had wanted to all along: looking for Yazoo and Loz.

They argued for a while on how to proceed, on how to follow their friend, knowing that they had the means of transportation to go after him, meaning Cid's airship, but no idea where to look for him. Something the turks had, but they weren't exactly on friendly terms yet, even while they hadn't really fought each other in a long time.

"So, you'll continue just standing here, doing nothing?" A gruff yet high-pitched voice asked into the shocked silence. "We'd gonna follow him, have to..."

"Yes, of course. You're right, Yuffie." Tifa smiled sadly at the dark-haired ninja besides her then glanced over to where the two turks stood. "So, you're with us?" She smirked slightly seeing Reno's eyes widen slightly with surprise, then finally nod in agreement.

"Yo, sure, gonna save the boss." He said, more to himself and Rude, not that he had to convince himself about this, cause he knew that together they had the best chance to pull this off. But maybe, he needed to convince himself that everything would end up well, just maybe.

A few minutes later they were aboard the Sierra, following the dot on this strange radar device they turks had. They eyes were still glued to it, Tifa noticed then frowned at seeing a uncomfortable expression pass over Rude's normally stony face.

What was wrong now? She couldn't help but think and moved closer to them, trying to see what they were seeing.

"What's wrong?" She finally asked aloud, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt like now. What ever was going to happen it could very well mean that they'd lose Cloud for good or worse had to kill him. No, she'd better stop thinking about that now or she'd go mad as well.

"Better ask what is not." Reno murmured, "Yo, better ask not at all." He tried to sound relaxed but he really couldn't fool anyone with his attitude, but he just had to at least try to keep things as normal as possible.

"Rude?" Tifa scowled very unladylike, realizing that the red-head wasn't going to answer her question any time soon.

"Here." He handed her the device in return, thinking that it explained things better than words ever could. Rude was right, of course, because it was rather obvious what the direction of the signal meant.

At first the pattern made no sense, especially since it was quite obvious after a few hours that Cloud wasn't heading for the Crater like they all had expected at first. It wasn't much but this mistake caused them to be behind a few days instead of a few hours like they had hoped at first.

Even with the Sierra as their means of transportation it seemed like their friend was faster, which most probably only was because the signal had been gone for two days until it reappeared once again.

Reno looked grim when he showed the device to them, not saying anything, because that hadn't been necessary. No, the signal spoke for itself, showing something they had avoided thinking about until now.

Tifa frowned, trying comprehend what the screen showed to her. It couldn't be ... yet here it was, plain as daylight. There simply was no doubt now, because of the familiar direction the pattern pointed to. No, she thought, then cursed under her breath, both for being so blind to not being able to see this … for it was rather obvious if one thought just hard enough about it.

Tifa blinked, once, twice but the word just continued to echo in her mind like the bad omen it was.

Just one word, over and over again ...

_Nibelheim. _

Cloud was heading for Nibelheim of all places he could have chosen to go.

* * *

_I wish you all wonderful Holidays and also a great New Year!_

_Hope you enjoy this chapter,_

_Mia_

* * *

_tbc_


	9. Coming full circle

_Chapter eight of Whispers about Angels._

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII and all its characters belong to Square-Enix and I'm just borrowing them for fun. No profit is made with this fic.

**Warnings:** mature content m/m in this chapter, meaning yaoi, slash or whatever you call it. Don't read if that's going to bother you.

**Pairing:** CloudxSephiroth

* * *

**Coming full circle**

* * *

For a little while Rufus continued like he had before, trying to remain as quiet as possible in hope for an opportunity he could use to escape. He remained like that while they were on the ship, and after they were continuing on Strife's bike.

It changed, though, as soon he realized where it was they were heading for, because it was the one place he had tried to forget its existence of, because of the dangerous secret it contained. From then on he tried his best to annoy Strife as best he could, trying him lose his calm with him. Yes, he had thought he didn't have any death-wish, but he also knew that he couldn't let them reach the reactor with him still alive, because of what was stored in it.

Rufus failed in the end, even if it looked for a moment or two like the blonde behind him wanted to strangle him, but then he did blank out black instead, very much his previous blank out. Only this time he knew it wasn't anything like shock behind it, but something that blasted ex-soldier did to him. A something that put him very effectively into a sleep-like state and kept him in it for the rest of their ride.

After this, it was rather silent during the remaining part of the ride. It was just like Cloud wanted it to be, because it meant that there was nothing to disturb him from reaching his goal, nothing blurring the voice that guided him there. The voice, it also told him to hurry, because he was being followed now, but it also told him that there was still time, time they had to use to complete the circle in the very place it all had begun.

The place, which was called Nibelheim, once his home and the root and source of all this mess, so it was only appropriate that it ended here as well. Not that this was about an actual end, but an new beginning. Yes, it was a beginning, something he could feel deep in his veins, in his heart, which was beating more strongly the closer he got to it.

Then he was there, back in Nibelheim, the place that had haunted his nightmares more often then not, but looking at it now didn't cause any of such feelings to well up, not really.

One would've thought that it would be difficult for him to be back here, like last time when he had been here, but it wasn't. Sure it looked like the very town he had been born in, the one that had been razed to the ground years later, but it wasn't really the same thing. Nothing here was real, everything was just a copy of the original town, an illusion created by Shinra to keep the public unaware what had really happened. No, the only thing in this town that wasn't a copy, was the Shinra Mansion.

Still at least that should have been sickening to him, but Cloud felt nothing at the sight of this building and the buildings surrounding it, like fearful mice looking at a looming dragon in their very midst. Maybe that was about Jenova's voice murmuring in the back of his head, but maybe it wasn't.

Well, it was late afternoon when he reached the place, but it seemed more like the dead of night, because nobody was out. Maybe because of thick fog, obscuring everything until it seemed no longer of this world, but something other. People in towns like this … were superstitious, and he doubted it made any difference that _these_ people had been paid to live here.

Whatever the reason, it made things easy for him to hide Fenrir in the Mansion, without anybody noticing that something might be off, might be not as usual, not that he thought these people would care anyway, but it was better this way.

Cloud hid his bike quickly and continued on, leaving for the Reactor, which had been his real target all along. He had to drag Rufus along, which turned more difficult than he had expected, because the man had managed to wake up out of the spell-infused sleep he had put him into earlier. He was too weak to put up much of a fight, of course, but it was annoying to watch out for him stumble every other step.

Cloud would've gone alone, but he knew that he needed Shinra to come along, knew that to reach the reactor's main compound he needed him there. He didn't know how he knew, but he somehow knew it was sealed to open only for the previous vice president, which made any other attempt pretty superfluous and bound to fail in the worst kind of ways.

So he had to drag him along, but that didn't mean he had to stay conscious the whole time and recast the spell once again after getting annoyed at how Rufus was slowing him down. Now, he had to carry him, but things could've been worse, though, for they hadn't been bothered by any monsters at all on their way up here.

Seemed like the monsters knew not to mess with him, Cloud thought and smirked at the not present monsters. Any other time he would've been greatly bothered by that as well, because that would've made him think that something was very wrong, but now, he was glad about it.

Cloud looked up to Mt. Nibel, coming to the conclusion that the he wouldn't reach the reactor building before nightfall if he was to continue this way by foot.

The weather looked well enough to fly, he mused with a smirk and brought out his wing and took off into the sky, dragging Rufus like a sack of potatoes along with him. Naturally Rufus would've protested if it weren't for the fact that he was fast asleep from the spell Cloud had cast on him earlier.

Cloud placed him into an one of the old locker rooms, after he had used Rufus' blood to enter the main reactor building, frowning slightly at the blonde man in front of him. Shinra had given him what he wanted after all: access to to the main reactor building in non-destructive fashion, which was important for what he had come for.

It wouldn't do at all if he'd came all this way only to find him dead, once again, which was one time too many.

Cloud was sure he wouldn't need Shinra for the rest of his search and whatever came after he had what he had come for. No, he would only slow them down in the end, he thought, wondering why he shouldn't just get rid of him, but just at that moment there was … some resonance in the back of his mind, like a mind-voice talking softly to him. He frowned, realizing that it was her, _Mother._

'We still need him,' Jenova said, he thought and found himself agreeing with it in response. He also knew he should fight it, but somehow couldn't, not anymore.

No, he couldn't fight this, which felt … just right to him, cause the sensation coming from her were too much, making it clear to him that she really cared. This was probably a lie, but it made him unable to fight her presence in his head, unlike all those years ago. Well, he tried to keep some kind of control and would only comply with her wishes if they made at least some sense to him; especially if they did help him finding Sephiroth … and keep him by his side.

* * *

_xox_

_

* * *

_

Cloud finally reached that very room in the reactor building, which had held Jenova's body in the past – and froze at the sight greeting him. Sephiroth even wore something similar to the bizarre headdress she had worn, but that was all he wore, besides the remnants of his leather trousers. There was a strange little moment when Cloud wondered on how Sephiroth had come to be here, in this very place, knowing that it definitely had been empty when he and his friends were here the last time.

It couldn't be, yet he was here,very much alive – and he would've found it ironic if it wasn't so wrong. Only, Cloud had somehow known that he would find him here, even he wasn't sure how he had known that. It was almost ironic in a way and he would have thought so too, if he would've found this a month earlier, but now ... now it made him only angry.

The anger felt weird somehow, almost like it was a physical reaction, like a reflex to see him in such a helpless situation, just a mad scientist's puppet to play with – only Hojo was death, wasn't he?

Then the anger turned into anguish and something inside ..._ snapped, _like a rope would snap, which had been strained way beyond its strength.

Cloud keened, a sound not entirely human, and moved forward, shoving his sword into the tube in several incredible fast yet precise moves. He made painfully sure not to hit the man inside, but in the end he couldn't prevent Sephiroth falling forward when the glass gave finally out, making a mess out of the room with the escaping Mako, too.

He quickly removed the headdress that had kept his body alive only to find himself looking frantically for a blanket or something similar he could use, because there was far more Mako clinging to the older man's body, than he had expected. It was more like a blur than anything else but he finally ended up in one of the medical emergency rooms with Sephiroth in front of him on one of the beds. It hadn't been very difficult at all, because most of the equipment was surprisingly still intact and useful enough for what he needed. Though, it didn't occur to him at the moment that these things were here, cause they had been in use only mere months ago when Sephiroth's body had been found.

Cleaning Sephiroth's body from the Mako, though, that ... was more difficult for some other reason, the reason being that he became very aware of how _real_ this was, how different, compared to the dreams they had shared.

Cloud's heart raced with so many mixed emotions he could hardly identify. There was excitement, even some fear, fear that he would've been different than the last times they had met. He was suddenly afraid to find out that Sephiroth turned out to be insane again and hate him. He didn't want to have to fight him once again, not now, because it hurt even thinking about that far more than in the past, when he'd just been his idol.

Even if that seemed not quite right now, seemed like a lie he had created himself to keep from falling apart more than he already had then. Cloud knew that the dreams had not been exactly dreams, no, not with the way they had felt like when Aerith had contacted him.

It had been real, even if he often thought that they had been too good to be real, but it had felt right then, so right.

So, yes, the strongest emotion was joy in him now, joy and something akin to awe as he caught sight of the ex-general's body now, which didn't seem to have changed at all. Then for a moment, which felt like a small eternity, he felt like he was frozen, unable to move, think or do anything but stare. Cloud didn't know it, but at that very moment he looked very much like the shy blue eyed cadet he had been a lifetime ago.

Then, his body acted before his mind could actually come up with a decision what to do, moving forward until he could almost touch him.

Sephiroth ... looked at peace, that was the first thought Cloud could come up with, together with the realization that he must be suffering Mako poisoning after having being sealed into that much of Mako for all these years – but he was definitely alive.

Alive, yes, but he needed to take care of the obvious Mako poisoning and thus he really would need to clean him up and keep his body warm. He knew what needed to be done, but when he actually started at it he moved a little like being in a trance. Maybe it was because Cloud couldn't quite gasp how startlingly beautiful the he was, even in this weakened state. He was even more startled when Sephiroth leaned into his touch, with his eyes partially open, giving him a strangely soft look that burned like fire at the same time.

"Cloud," Sephiroth half purred, half whispered, "it's good to see you."

"Yes, i-it has been a while..." He muttered in return, feeling at a loss of words now – and before he knew what he was doing he leaned before, bringing their lips together for a kiss, which lead into another one and another, leaving him trembling with emotion he was unable to control, pretty much like his brain had been short-circuited. In a way it was a repeat of what had happened the last time they had met in the Lifestream, only much much worse.

More intense, because it was real now; not just a dream.

Cloud felt like he was burning up with heat and didn't fight when Sephiroth pulled him forward, closer to him until he ended on top of the ex-general. There was a feeling of urgency in these motions, in the way he pulled the blonde closer and claimed him with his lips as well as his hands. The need driving his hands to undress Cloud, who didn't seem to notice or mind at all because he was just as caught up in this like he was. It didn't help that Sephiroth was practically naked under him, wearing only the towel Cloud had managed to place him into after he managed to remove the Mako-soaked leather trousers as careful as he had been able to.

It was heady, intoxicating and Cloud couldn't stop, even if he knew he'll probably should, because Sephiroth was weakened by Mako poisoning. People with Mako poisoning needed to rest, he thought dimly when they broke apart for air before he lost himself into Sephiroth's emerald gaze once again. Guess he was too lost into them that he didn't noticed his voice at first or what he said.

"Take me." Sephiroth's voice was almost rough compared to the smooth purr it used to be under normal circumstances – but it was the words itself and the nearly desperate intensity in it that got under his skin and disposed neatly of any remaining common sense the blonde might have left at that moment.

How funny that two little words could make him ache this much with need that it felt like he was about to burst apart from the inside – and the only way out was to oblige this demand. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want him like this. No, Cloud wanted this more than anything else, bad enough he thought he'd gone mad with desire, burning to the ground just like his home town once had.

And so ... he just gave into this ... obsession, gave into demanding kisses and urgent touches. Truly, this had to be madness to have him acting like this, like a wild animal in heat. He hadn't even noticed that he had lost his clothes until this moment or how they had come undone. No, instead he was just glad to have the hindering things gone, to be closer to_ him._

Then in a moment of lucidity he stopped, thinking that it shouldn't happen like this, not when they had nothing to ease the way, nothing to use for lube. Cloud really loved Sephiroth, he was sure about this now, and he didn't want to hurt him, even if it seemed that the older man didn't seem to give a damn about it.

Cloud really wanted things to be ... right, but the next moment his conscious thoughts were lost in the sensations of Sephiroth's hips aching against his – and causing him to grind his hips closer as well.

Before he knew what he was doing he had joined their bodies together, and continued moving until they had found a steady rhythm. Part of him knew that it wasn't the right time, but he couldn't stop, didn't want to; not with the way Sephiroth was moving under him, the noises of need he made urging him on to go faster and faster.

It didn't last forever, even if it felt like that for a little while, but soon the heat inside started to coil up into a tight ball, making Cloud realize how close he was to his release – and telling from the how Sephiroth tightened around him he was close to his as well.

Then there was the sudden thought that he should pull out and he almost did, but Sephiroth's legs tightened around his hips, making it impossible for Cloud to move away from him, from this intimate embrace.

"Don't," Sephiroth whispered. "Don't go." It was somewhere between a pleading and a command, making it obvious what he wanted, no, what he needed.

"Sephiroth …" He muttered, weakly protesting, feeling confused at why he was thinking the way he did, but maybe it was because there was something off with their lovemaking, something that didn't seem quite right with them being this out of control, with how much this was like Reunion and yet completely different. Cloud wanted to say more, wanted to ask questions he didn't quite understand, but was stopped by the sheer need in those green eyes beneath him.

He didn't fight the hand leading his hand to touch the erection that was poking at his belly, just stared back, keeping their gazes locked while using that hand to bring them both even closer to the edge and then a little further. Cloud had to close his eyes then because of the sudden wave of heat rolling through him, which he thought felt like being tossed into the spray in the midst of a bad storm – only far more pleasantly; the exact opposite to be honest. He thought he saw stars, with the way everything went white for a moment but he wasn't sure cause that sounded too much cliché like.

He leaned down then, nuzzling Sephiroth's neck, cause he didn't want to leave … just yet and it seemed the feeling was mutual cause of the strong arms that followed through to hold him there, as close as they could get for long while. Yes, none of them felt like letting go so soon after finding this kind of bliss, which was true, cause none of them ever really had this kind of thing that was called 'love' by mankind.

* * *

xox

* * *

After this lovemaking they somehow managed to clean up and get dressed. The latter meant that they had to find something to wear for Sephiroth, other than his leather pants, which were almost unwearable in the state those things were, with all the Mako that clung to the leather. They could be cleaned, of course, but they didn't have the time nor the equipment needed for that now.

It wasn't easy to find something for a man of Sephiroth's stature but he found a black shirt and slacks and a pair of combat boots for the ex-general to wear. Well, those would do for now until they could commandeer something better. Luckily they found the ex-general's armor neatly stashed away in one of the storage rooms around.

They soon left that room, which was mostly because Sephiroth did recover much faster from the Mako poisoning than Cloud had hoped to. Maybe he should have expected this, but he simply had been too worried about the older man that he failed to think logically about it.

Well, he was worried, but now he felt almost cheerfully happy being together with Sephiroth like this, even if he knew that they'd make probably a rather silly sight, acting like this, like two lovestruck teenagers. Kissing, laughing and fooling around with each other, where they were supposed to walk normally. Yet, he felt too happy to fight it, and even Jenova seemed to agree with this, if the content humming in the back of his mind was any sign.

Well, they made their way to the other side of the reactor building, where Cloud had left Rufus hours ago, which wasn't all that far away and they could have reached it quickly.

Well, they could have, but it took them quite a while, because of how distracted they were with each other. They walked a little, then stopped to crash their lips together, over and over again, until things were about to get … heated again, with the way Sephiroth was pinning Cloud to the hallway's wall and their wings had somehow come out to cling to their bodies, pushing them even closer together.

Hands were busy finding ways beneath hindering clothes then started to get rid of said clothes, and would have continued so, but were stopped by a sudden high-pitched noise, which had them untangle quickly, just in case it belonged to a monster.

It wasn't anything like that, but that didn't mean it was any less bothersome, because it turned out to be some sort of alarm. Cloud frowned at that then shared a moment of silent communication with Sephiroth, both knowing that lingering here was a rather bad idea.

Yep, it seemed playtime was over for now, cause even while the noise wasn't caused monsters it didn't mean there weren't any, which they found out soon enough a few moments later. They had just started to head for the exit when those things surrounded them in an attempt to keep them away from the next section.

Those weren't exactly monsters, but robot guards, which were obviously meant to guard this place or better to keep things inside, which was very probably a certain one-winged-angel. Cloud had to give Shinra some merit, even while they were easy to fight for them now, they would be hard to fight if you didn't have any Maria equipped.

They were rather ugly and had shell-like armor, which was nearly impossible to penetrate with a sword, but in the end they didn't put up much of a fight against their joined forces. Whoever, had designed hadn't thought about the possibility of using Lightning materia on them – and Cloud's was one of the best, fully mastered at that. Used in compilation with a nice fire spell it was very effective to get rid of a batch of ugly machines in practically no time at all.

They made good time at that, dispatching any approaching robots as needed, until they reached a familiar hallway in the outer section, which had been used to house the reactor workers when the compound was still in use.

Cloud blinked, once then twice only to look sheepishly, reacting to the curious look he received from Sephiroth at this, and why they had stopped here. It was understandable, cause there was nothing remarkable about this door; it being like any other one in a long row of doors in this hallway.

"I forgot him," he said and then went ahead to open the mysterious door instead of explaining his words, which were quite right, cause he had indeed forgotten that he had left Shinra here, cuffed and locked away like some delinquent or forgotten worker, for quite a while.

Rufus Shinra, he decided looked so beaten that it was almost painful to look at him, pitiful indeed, but there was also something else he thought. He didn't like it, he decided, and gave the late Shinra president a unfriendly glare.

"You locked Rufus Shinra into a closet?" Sephiroth nearly gagged at sniggering at the sight in front of him, which in turn made the man in question pale significantly. Saying that Rufus was alarmed was an understatement, but that was all very understandable.

"Yeah, I guess so." Cloud answered, trying to look innocent but failed miserable, because he didn't feel guilty for locking him in like that. It wasn't like the blonde president didn't deserve it and some more – and if it got a laugh out of Sephiroth who was he to complain about it?

He couldn't help but smile at his silver-haired companion's comment, which was returned in a similar fashion. It looked like they were thick like thieves which each other, which wasn't far from the truth, cause they were kinda partners in crime now.

"It's not a closet." Cloud said after another moment, trying to sound serious, but failed once again.

"If you say so." Sephiroth said and then laughed even harder, which turned out to be so addictive that it had him join in a few seconds later.

Oh, maybe it wasn't exactly a closet but it was something close to it as it was one of these rooms the reactor workers had used to change clothes after and before work. So, it was a large walkable closet indeed, kind of.

"So, tell me again, why you've brought me here?" Shinra's blonde president arched an brow, trying to look calm and composed just like he had in the past but all he really managed to look kind of lost, with his bandages and his less the immaculate white suit, which was more grey than its original white colour.

Cloud narrowed his eyes, forcing down the urge to roll his eyes at Rufus trying to act like he was in control and all. Really, it was almost too funny to see him like this, weren't it for the obvious signs of Geostigma, which reminded him that there were lots of children suffering the same fate like Rufus, something they definitely didn't deserve ... or did they? The blonde blinked at the last stray thought, wondering where that had came from.

"A key," he finally said, "you're a key, Shinra." Cloud smiled at his rather cryptic words, but they were the truth he knew, at least that's what he got out from Jenova. He wasn't sure how far he could trust her, but she was still a source of information for what he needed to do, maybe the only ally aside from Sephiroth in this case, thinking about the way his so called _friends _had reacted to his change.

"Come, we have things to do." He nodded to Sephiroth then pulled Rufus along with them and went for the exit, which went surprisingly smooth now after all the annoying things they had to deal with before. It was as strange as when they had went up here, because it was now very silent.

Neither Cloud nor Sephiroth felt the need to say anything and Rufus was too busy with just keeping up with them to be able to speak at all. He stumbled more than once and either Cloud or Sephiroth had to keep him from falling off the cliff, not that they cared much about him but they knew that they needed Rufus with them for what they needed to do.

Sephiroth frowned more than once, thinking what he had told him and what he felt ... from Mother. His frown deepened at that, because he suddenly realized that he disliked the fact that Jenova kept this close to his Cloud. Not that he himself was any better, but Sephiroth found himself getting more and more wary of Jenova since he had returned from the Lifestream.

True, a part of him still believed that she was his mother, but now, he was getting suspicious about how Jenova acted, how quickly the she changed from warm and happy in his mind to full blown rage and back again. He couldn't help but feel torn apart between worrying for her and what this might do to Cloud, cause he couldn't help but worry that their 'Mother' wasn't quite sane either.

Back then Sephiroth had been weak against these emotions, coming from her, because he already had way too much anger piled up against ShinRa to be able to defend against it. He knew he went mad with all that rage then, rage that had consumed him until there had been nothing else but hate against anything and everything, even against the Planet itself.

Cloud didn't have this weakness, he knew, but again, that was rational thinking, which did help little against the nagging feeling of unease that didn't seem to let go of him.

* * *

xxx

* * *

It felt like the dead of night when they finally reached the Mansion again, but it wasn't quite, because it got early dark here in the mountains at this time of the year, but it had taken longer they had to drag Rufus along with them.

At first he had refused to be carried like some dead weight even that had been exactly how Cloud managed to get him here in the beginning. Whatever, he had some stupid phase of pride that it was enough for both Cloud and Sephiroth to let him suffer his own stupidity – that was until they got fed up with it and simply took him between them and ... took off, ignoring any pleading or sounds of pain coming from ShinRa's current president, not that there was much of that, gagged like he was.

Rufus wasn't exactly heavy, but it was an awful awkward position to be in, being held by both winged men while they held to each other. Worse that they had to fought down laughter more than once because he looked like he was about to faint more than once – and that wasn't about his Geostigma. No, they thought it was because Rufus was too embarrassed to be in such a position, almost like a child, no less.

Thankfully it was over soon enough because they decided to land outside of Nibelheim, because they didn't want to announce their presence just like that, even while knowing that there probably weren't any people out at this time. Neither Cloud nor Sephiroth did care much about the people here, especially that most of them had been sent by Shinra right after it had burned down to cover up what had happened. No, they just wanted to reach their target without any interruption.

Their target, the Shinra Mansion, hadn't really changed at all since the last time Cloud had been here. It was just as dark and dusty and very much empty but of several monsters like it had been before. There were less monsters now, of course, since most of them had been taken care by Cloud and his friends when they had visited this place for the first time, when they had been chasing Sephiroth.

It wasn't a pleasant place to be, but Cloud couldn't help but he had to come here and the upper level wasn't doing it. No, he had to go back to what was left of Hojo's lab down there and then some more. He didn't want to see that place again, yet, he couldn't help but went through room after room, following the same path he had once taken when he had found Vincent.

_She _was urging him to go further and further. Cloud shivered at that, feeling alarm at the increasing ease Jenova whispered into his mind – and that wasn't all to it. No, far worse were the emotions he caught from her. It was downright scary, knowing that he caught himself actually taking such comfort from her presence where he downright refused to acknowledge her previously.

Yes, he knew he should fight that, but he didn't, couldn't any longer now. He was tired of fighting – and it wasn't that Jenova's presence actually felt bad now. He couldn't help it but there was a strange warmth to it. Warmth, both similar and very different what he felt when being held by Sephiroth.

Cloud shivered at that thought as well, but it was with pleasure this time, helpless to do anything, but lean in, even while he knew that they had no time for this … now.

The pull was too strong, the longing to have and consume again, again and again, impossible to fight off just like_ reunion._

_

* * *

_

_Sorry, it took a little longer to write, but I wanted to make it as good I could. _

_Happy New Year to you all!_

_Mia_


	10. A Matter of Identiy

-x-

* * *

**Chapter Nine **of Whispers about Angels

**Disclaimer:** FFVII nor its characters belong to me, for more see prequel

**Warnings:** bad language, violence, insanity

* * *

Sorry for the long wait but I practically had to rewrite the whole chapter after I realized that it couldn't work out the way I wanted it to.

There's probable lots of typos in this chapter too, but I'm too lazy to read it over again for now. I'll update if I come to it.

Mia

* * *

So now, on with the story:

* * *

**A Matter of Identity**

* * *

Inside the Mansion, there weren't any interruptions, meaning that again there were no monsters foolish enough to try their luck with the two of them. Not that this was really a surprise, with the subconsciousness sense of danger the two of them radiated like big red warning sign saying that it would be rather unfortunate for anyone to try to do battle with them.

Or maybe there were less monsters now, since most Mako reactors were deactivated now – and the planet was getting healthier because of this, with less Mako pollution to create all these dangerous monsters.

Whatever the reason, there was a strange silence around them – and the place, which seemed more abandoned than ever before, which felt peaceful yet there was some kind of discord in it, that couldn't be explained, like foreboding of things to come. Almost like a melody, that accompanied Mother's voice, which felt like a lullaby in the back of their minds, softly rising and sinking like the winds coming from the nearby mountains.

Stillness, was all around them.

It did only enhance on how strange it felt, to be back in the world of the living, which was an almost surreal feeling after having spend so much time in limbo. Yet, he knew it was very real – and that made him smile. A real smile, not the forced one he had for the news agents or the evil smile he'd worn when he burned down the town, he'd been born to. No, this was a very real smile – but it was only for Cloud.

"You're happy?" The words interrupted his musings, but after a moment of gazing into his Cloud's eyes it made him only smile wider.

"Would it be wrong, if I'd said yes?" He asked in return, silly happiness burning in his emerald eyes at the sight of the one he had always wanted – and finally gotten.

"Nope, not a bit." Cloud could only smile at these words, because that was how he felt, too – happy, despite the slight nagging in the back of his mind that not everything was all-right. Part of him knew that he shouldn't accept things as they were, shouldn't accept Jenova/Mother as part of him nor should he feel this bouncily happy about being with Sephiroth – but the most part of him didn't give a damn about it. He did have a right to be selfish for once in a while, didn't he? After all he had to give up for the Planet's sake he was tired to continue that way.

"That's good then." Sephiroth nodded and took Cloud's hand into his, which would have felt silly under any occurrences, but right now it just felt right; it felt like home. No, this was home, he decided after gazing into now all too familiar blue eyes. Home wasn't a place, he realized just now, nor was it the meaningless construction he was told so by dear Professor Hojo; among so many other things, which should have been meaningless to him for he was meant for something … better. Yeah, right, better turned out to mean being alone – but not now, not anymore.

Now, he was at home, here with Cloud, like this, he thought and pulled him closer and leaned down to kiss him.

Home was touch, he thought, while his mate was eagerly kissing him back, tasting and getting tasted in return. It was something he had always missed, without knowing exactly what it was that he had been missing in his life. His upbringing in a lab instead of a normal home, had left him pretty clueless about what a normal life felt, most of the time.

Maybe that was why he couldn't let go, even while knowing that now wasn't the time for this and the logical part of him told him to stop, but he didn't care. He didn't, couldn't stop, but instead deepened the kiss to something more substantial, that would get him as close to Cloud as possible without crossing the line to full-blown sex, which would mean the complete loss of control they didn't want to risk right now, here at this place that held so many bad memories – and something he was nearly painfully missing.

Losing control … was subjective, really, like being lost in feeling, of the taste of each other lips, tongues, the sound of their fast beating hearts music in their ears, making anything else of little importance.

Meaning Cloud didn't felt his grip on Shinra loosing, causing the current president Shinra falling down with a low bang – and finally wake from his unnatural slumber. The latter went down unnoticed, too, which was mostly because Rufus was too shaken from the display in front of him – and the fact that his cunning mind tried to figure out how to use this to his advantage without getting caught. His thoughts went in circles, but couldn't come up with any solution just yet, but gaping at them with a wide open mouth.

Then it kinda clicked, making perfect sense to him, enough to send him into a hysterical fit of laughter that went on and on for a little while; despite the fact that it hurt to do so.

His laughter stopped abruptly, when Cloud and Sephiroth realized that they were watched and by whom, causing both to turn around to face the person that dared to interrupt their private moment. Well, glaring alone wouldn't have stopped Rufus' laughing fit, but a glare from two pair of angry looking Mako-eyes stopped him.

"Did you have anything to say?" Cloud asked, daring Shinra to say something about it, part of him hoping he would do something so he could punish him while the other part just wanted him to be still.

"Nothing." Rufus replied, in a far calmer sounding voice than he felt about having to look into eyes, which reminded him of nothing so much like a hunting panther fixing his prey. No, he thought, humans weren't supposed to have eyes like that with slotted irises … He was still unable to decide if they reminded him more of a cat or a serpent; maybe it was both.

"Get up," Sephiroth ordered in a voice that belied nothing of the obvious annoyance he felt about the late Shinra president, but it didn't leave any leeway for Rufus but to obey this order, no matter how impossible it seemed to manage in his condition.

He would shiver at the sound if it weren't for the fact that he had been feeling cold for a long time, ever since he contracted this cursed Geostigma. Cursed Hojo for doing this to him, he thought, remembering too well what he had been put through, just because the good doctor had been curious and his old man couldn't have cared less about it as long it didn't hinder the company gaining more power and money.

Rufus stumbled to get up, bracing for the pain he was certain that was going to come along with it - and at first it looked like he wouldn't be able to do what he had been ordered to. He muttered an inaudible curse, which was followed by a gasp of surprise – because the expected punishment didn't came. No, instead he was eyed by his two captors, who then continued to exchange a knowing glance, which turned into a sly smile of something that could be only satisfaction.

"Here," Cloud said in a disturbingly soft voice, "let me help you." He continued then to pull up the other blonde with his left hand, causing Rufus to gasp in sudden pain at the contact, which almost felt like an electric current going through his body starting from where Strife had touched him … with his bare skin. Rufus frowned at that random thought, wondering when he had taken off his gloves and for what reason.

"What have you done to me?" He shivered at the strange feeling still going through his body, even if the pain had stopped, leaving him with a sensation that was nearly surreal because it felt so out of order to him – being without pain, mostly. Yet, somehow he knew, that something still wasn't right, couldn't be right, even if he was glad to be rid of the pain for the moment.

"Don't be bothered too much about it," Sephiroth said sternly. "It's for your own good."

"Yes, it's just helping you to keep up with us … a little better." Cloud continued then motioned for Shinra to walk in front of them. "At least until we reach our destination." He added with a smirk, directing them towards the basement and Rufus had no choice but do what was asked of him.

* * *

xox

* * *

After this there was silence, once again, but it was charged with emotion, of looking forward to what they might find down here. They went through hauntingly familiar rooms, all without exchanging a single word, not because they didn't feel anything about these places – no, more like they didn't need to say anything to each other.

Words … were not necessary to convey emotion, easily felt through their growing bond.

It didn't take long for them to reach the room, Cloud had found weeks ago. Looking at each other in silent communication they went inside after they had put Shinra back to sleep after he had failed to give them any more helpful information about this room or possible hidden doors. Although, Shinra cleared up something Cloud had been wondering about since his last visit here: about why the computers were all up and running like they just had been used yesterday.

Seeming that Shinra's current head-scientist wanted access to any information he could get about any experiment that had ever been done here – and in contrast to Hojo he was very open with his work, thinking that sharing his information would be the best thing he could do to get his project running.

They continued, entering the room with wary looks, which turned out to be unnecessary since the room didn't contain any nasty surprises, but only office equipment. Everything was like before, with no signs of anybody else visiting this room since Cloud had left it.

Yet, there was something off with it, Cloud thought, and stopped close to the far end of it, in front of cupboard full of books. It was similar to the one in the library, yet different. The books looked like the slightest touch would make the fall apart, but coming close one would realize that they … weren't real, but an illusion, kept in check by a low power materia that had been placed in the wall.

Why would someone use an illusion of books to cover up a wall? Maybe, because it wasn't just a simple wall … and yes, it wasn't, didn't feel right. He shared a moment of silent communication with Sephiroth, with the both thinking the same, that there had to be some kind of switch behind the surface.

Sephiroth traced the structure of the wall underneath with the fingertips of his right hand, looking for something out of the usual, something that would explain the illusion.

There, he thought, fingering something that felt like a switch then pressed it, coming to conclusion that if it felt like as switch the probability was high it was exactly that. And indeed, it was a kind of switch, even if it was nothing he had ever came about before: what kind of switch turned into a needle pricking in one's finger while pressed down? It certainly wasn't anything pleasant, but from the eyes of a scientist it made perfect sense to key something onto somebody's blood.

His frown got even deeper, when he heard a soft voice talking to him, greeting him. It was a voice, he remembered well, but he thought he'd never hear it again since the person it belonged to had been dead for many years – and he still was, he thought, noticing that this couldn't be much more than a recording or a computer program at best.

"Welcome," the voice said, just a moment before the books finally vanished, making room for something that could be only a computer, even if it was the weirdest one they had ever seen. Compared to the ones in the room behind them, this one … looked ancient, with the tarnished look it's chassis had about it and a flickering screen.

The voice turned out to belonging to a middle aged scientist being displayed on the screen right in front of them fit perfectly in with the voice Sephiroth had recognized.

"Dr Gast," he voiced out aloud and thus causing the figure on the screen to nod then shake his head in a sad gesture, confirming the ex-general's thoughts about its identity.

"Not quite, I'm afraid," he said, "I'm just an humble computer simulation made to look like Dr Gast." Next he gestured for both of them to come closer to the screen, which they did comply, mostly because of curiosity. "But I here for a reason I suppose."

"It's good to see you at last," the scientist said then continued to make an expression like he forgot about something important then turned his gaze to Cloud, eyeing for a moment with curious expression then nodded. "Good to see that you made it after all."

"You … you know me?" The blonde kind of stuttered in response, mostly because he'd never seen this man and yet, the scientist seemed to know him.

"Yes, I suppose you don't remember me. You were just a two-year old after all, so it's understandable, but it's very satisfying to see that I haven't failed you in the end." He explained with the same kind smile the original Dr. Gast used to greet everything and anybody – well, yes, even Hojo, which turned out to be a mistake in the end, considering his early death, but it just hadn't been in his nature to be anything but kind.

"Failed?" Cloud murmured, frown getting even deeper while his thoughts were spinning out of control. It was confusing, but it wasn't at the same time. It was felt like completing a puzzle game where every little puzzle piece suddenly fit perfectly, where they hadn't made much sense previously. He shivered, reaching out to grasp Sephiroth's hand, just to keep himself steady enough, because it felt like he couldn't trust the ground under his feet … somehow, like it was just about to give away.

"It was you," he finally said, still a little shaky, "It was you, who healed me, right?"

"Yes, I assume I did so." The scientist agreed with another nod. "It wasn't easy, though, because your specific genetic make-up."

"My specific genetic make-up?" Cloud looked questioningly at the figure on the screen, frowning deeply because he could still remember clearly this dream he had about Jenova not so long ago.

"Hmm, yes, you're pretty unique, my boy." The Dr. Gast figure nodded. "Gave me a hard time to keep you from curious noses, too, while still managing to help you."

"How unique?" The blonde enquired, his eyes brightened with the cheer need to know of how much of that dream had been true, of how much he could trust anything of it, what Jenova had said in it.

"Very, I'm afraid," the figure replied," enough that the only match for your stem cells were _Hers,_ Jenova." He nodded again, then continued to explain, "I tried to get around it, but I needed to replace part of your spinal cord with cells from her to stop your body fighting itself."

He frowned again, then turned his gaze to Sephiroth, giving him a thoughtful look and finally smiled softly, like he just remembered something important.

"Ah, yes, this has been left behind for you." He said, right before his picture vanished, flicking strongly for another moment then turned into the display of a beautiful woman with a slightly sad expression. It caused Sephiroth to frown in confusion and Cloud gasp in recognition all at once.

"Everybody should at least know how their mother looked like," the now body-less voice explained, then the screen became dead – but a paper came out from an hidden opening, which seemed to be a printer, because the paper looked like the print of a file of a Shinra employee.

"Who's she?" Sephiroth whispered, eyeing the paper with a mix of curiosity and doubt. His voice was nearly inaudible, because of how confused he felt about what just happened. He had no clue who the woman was, but he knew somehow that this was important with the way the scientist had looked at him while talking about knowing ones mothers.

"Lucrecia Crescent … your mother" Cloud answered hesitatingly, knowing that this was going to be … difficultly for his lover. "The woman, who gave birth to you." He continued, seeing that the words still made little sense to Sephiroth, which was kinda understandable because it meant that he had two mothers – depending on how one would look at this.

"My … mother?" The ex-general asked in a voice, that made it very clear that he wasn't sure how he felt about this revelation or if he even wanted to think of Lucrecia as his mother after believing Jenova being his mother for all his life. Jenova … wasn't exactly human, but she had been always there for him, hadn't she?

"Yes, of course, she was your mother," the scientist' voice answered smoothly, then sighed, like he could actually remembering the person he was talking about, which was impossible because he was just a program – a very clever one, but nevertheless just a computer simulation of the human scientist Dr. Gast.

"Was?" Sephiroth frowned at the display, which now had turned back into the scientist they'd been seeing first.

"To be honest," the figure continued, "I'm not really sure. Lucrecia is, was, listed as dead, but that doesn't mean all too much in this place I guess."

"She's not," Cloud murmured, "but close." He looked down, feeling unable to express the sudden sadness this subject brought up to, mostly because in a way Lucrecia had been more death than alive during the time he met her in her self-chosen prison under the ocean.

"She sealed herself away." He murmured after a long uneasy moment of feeling Sephiroth's gaze resting on him in almost pleading way. Shivering, Cloud looked up then shook his head, knowing his lover's next question all too well – mostly because he would ask the same thing if Lucrecia were his mother.

"Why?"

"She … was afraid, I think," Cloud muttered, "of Shinra – and what was about to happen to the Planet."

"She left Shinra then … and me." Sephiroth said, feeling disappointed at this, that the woman, who could've been his mother hadn't fought more for him, even the logical part of him did understand why she probably hadn't been able to.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think she had much of a choice, Seph." Cloud began, but then trailed off, cursing inwardly his lack of words to give his lover the answers he needed. Answers he didn't seem to be able to come up with, because he wasn't any less confused when it came to this topic. Worse, Jenova didn't seem to try to make things more clear – not now, when they needed answers.

Mother was silent, even the humming in the back of their minds was still, leaving a feeling of … something missing. She wasn't gone, because he could clearly feel her still there, with them, but her voice was strangely absent, almost like she was at a loss how to respond to this as well.

"But she's still alive?" Sephiroth asked after a while, tightening his hold on Cloud's hand, because now it was him, who needed something to hold himself steady, to lean on, no matter how strong he otherwise was.

"Yes, I think she is." Cloud slowly nodded, using their joined hands to pull them closer, arms sliding around each other bodies to hold them steady close in an intimate embrace. There was need in it, but it wasn't anything sexual about it. There was emotion, of course, but what exactly it contained neither of them knew for certain. He'd thought it was love, but that seemed way too simple now, too easy an explanation for feeling this way about each other.

No, it was more intense than love alone, this ... this _thing_ between them, which bound them so tightly to each other that neither of them could ever let go of the other.

* * *

xox

* * *

When they turned around for more answered they realized that the screen had gone dark for good this time – and nothing they tried did anything to change it … much. All it did was flicking up for a second or two, to show a rather cryptic text message that said that they should look where everything began, but not why or what they should look out for.

It … was disappointing, yet they knew that there was nothing they could do about it – and maybe it was good in away, because they had already spent too much time here in this room.

It was time that they got what they had came for, finding the puzzle piece that was still missing – and _Mother_ was adamant about it. Though, she didn't have to push them, because they could feel it or more specifically Sephiroth could feel how close they were to it.

No, Sephiroth thought with something akin to glee, soon … he was going to get back what was his, get back what Shinra had dared to steal from him.

It wasn't far, not really, but it turned out to be a part of the basement, which looked rather new, showing that Shinra wasn't as gone from this place as the company had wanted everybody to believe. The walls and everything looked smooth, too smooth to have been made with anything but the most advanced technology, but it didn't look anything like a lab.

No, it looked more like a high security containment, keeping things tightly locked up. Then the corridor finally ended in what almost looked like just another wall – but looking more closely it was obviously that it wasn't.

They knew it was a door, even if its looks did try to say otherwise.

Yet, it was tightly locked, but not with anything that looked even close to an conventional lock. Yes, there was a door, if it could even called a door for it lacked anything one usually found on a door, like a handle and lock for a key to use.

No, this looked more like a wall made out of steel, but they soon found that it wasn't anything like ordinary steel for that would have been easy to overcome with all the Mako floating through their body.

They shared a quick glance then went to check the walls for anything that resembled a locking mechanism, no matter how weird it might look like.

It took them another moment to realize that there wasn't anything to be seen on the surface. Yes, the walls around them were perfectly smooth, no, make that too smooth. Yet, nothing they touched did anything to open it, not even using Cloud's completed fusion sword did anything, but a slight dent into the door's surface.

"Nothing," Cloud said, eyeing the door … and then their unwilling guest to finally smile quite happily. "I guess, this is why_ Mother _had us bring him with us, Seph." He said, nodding to himself, thinking that if the reactor had been sealed to let open only to Shinra's blood this couldn't be any different.

The ex-general simply nodded then returned the smile, which looked just a little bit excited. Yes, Shinra was indeed a key, their key, to get what was theirs.

"Let's go then," he said, his smile turning into his trademark smirk while noticing that their guest seemed to be nervous all of a sudden – suspiciously.

"You heard him," Cloud said,"up with you."

"No," Rufus said," you can't force me." His voice was firm, yet his eyes belied the fact that he was in fact afraid he wouldn't be strong enough. Death couldn't be possible worse than this sickness he'd been dealing for months now, could it?

"We can't?" Sephiroth asked softly in return, almost in a singsong voice, which was positively scary too. It would've caused Shinra to pee into his trousers, if he hadn't be any less strong of will.

"No," he replied instead, sounding tired but firm. "I know you'll probably kill me, but that won't open the door." Yes, death was certainly better than the alternative, not that things weren't already far from well.

"Hmm, yes, we could kill him." Cloud said, looking back to Sephiroth then his smirk became a full-fledged grin," but we don't need to."

"It's because you forgot something important, Shinra," he continued smoothly, blue eyes lighting up with amusement, looking like a child in a toy-store – in the most terrible way at that, too. Yes, he was enjoying this far too much, he thought with glee.

"I … what?" Rufus stuttered, unable to understand what was Strife talking about. "How?" He asked, knowing he sounded like a fool, but couldn't help it.

"Hmm, yes, how," Cloud replied, nodding. "It's very easy, actually." He then stepped closer to his lover, who in turned pulled him closer until they were sharing a half-embrace. "Shall we explain this to him?"

"Yes, of course." The silver-haired ex-general pushed one of his bangs behind his ear in an almost lazy looking gesture. "It's Mother." He grinned happily at the shaken look Shinra gave them at these words.

"Or more specifically the fact that you're sharing her cells," The one-winged-angel continued calmly, "not enough to benefit from them, but it is enough that you're suffering the Stigma – and it also makes it easy for us to control you to do what we want you to do."

"So, you see, we don't need to kill you or threaten you to get what we want." Cloud added in the same calm yet cheerful tone. His eyes, however, held nothing close to warmth, but seemed to be made of poisoned ice that didn't seem to haven't any mercy in them.

Rufus was frozen gazing into them, caught in the headlight like a deer without a way out of it, and then … to his horror he saw his his legs moving on their own, doing what he didn't want them to do.

He glared at them, furious at what they were doing to him and the fact that he couldn't do anything about it. He hated to be this … . helpless, like a guest in his own body that did what _they _wanted it to do, like he himself was nothing, but a puppet for them to control.

_Just a fucking puppet …. _

Rufus watched himself walk towards the part of the door, where he knew the lock was concealed. He shivered, trying his body not to betray him, but it was pointless because just then he watched his hands move to unlock what he had tried to keep away from the world at every price. It had been the only way, because it turned out it couldn't be destroyed, not by any means they managed to come up with, like it was cursed by some higher power somehow.

He cursed silently at his own foolishness, wondering if he was going to die a fool when he heard the lock welcoming him with a cheerful voice. But maybe he deserved it, he thought dimly while the world around gave away to an now all too familiar nothingness. His body was failing him, he knew, which wasn't a wonder after being dragged around like he had been.

He was tired, so tired, and didn't fight when his body gave away under him nor did he fight when one of his captors, most probably, Strife dragged him inside … much like a rag doll. Rufus would have fight it, but he didn't have any strength left for it.

The door had opened with a soft click, showing how well it was cared for or maybe how perfectly it was designed to work, to give way to a room that seemed almost completely barren. It was only almost, though, because there was a soft silver light, which drew their eyes to the wall on the right side.

The casing on the wall was more than seven feet long, narrowly surrounding its treasure. A treasure that almost reached over the complete wall. The treasure wasn't gold, nor was it silver, even if it gleamed brightly like the latter one – and most people would be wondering why Rufus had gone all these troubles to protect something like that wasn't made of rare metals nor jewellery.

Well, it was valuable, very so, even if it wasn't anything most people think as treasure,

It was a sword, but it was far from being ordinary.

No, this treasure what gleamed from the wall there was nothing else but a certain Masamune Sephiroth was longing to have back in his possession. More so he was relieved to see that it wasn't him, who failed to call his sword back to him, but that it was magic field that kept it from him.

"It's good to see her again, isn't it?" Cloud smiled at him, unable to feel anything but happy that his lover was finally complete, because Sephiroth without Masamune … well, that simply wasn't right.

Sephiroth simply nodded, deactivated the materia that was holding the sword in place and took it back to were it belonged.

"Yes, it is." He smiled at the familiar feeling of Masamune on his back, realizing how wrong it had felt without it there.

"Wonder if they have a spare uniform here somehow?" Cloud asked teasingly, thinking of getting his lover more suiting clothes. It seemed the wrong question, though, because it his traitorous mind strayed to the idea of the older man stripping … and some more. He fought down the heat these thoughts caused, but obviously failed to, because of the answering heat Sephiroth's eyes held at that.

Yes, he suddenly was aware of how close they were standing to each other. It was nice, his traitorous mind thought, but not close enough to his liking. They moved closer, which was better, but still not enough, not like they could ever be close enough.

They were kissing a split moment later … which was almost good enough, but more kissing was even better, just like kissing different places as well. Getting around hindering clothes would be … also great, but they didn't get any close to that, because …

… it didn't last for long.

* * *

xox

* * *

A noise where should have been silence interrupted their kiss, made them turn around to find their guest laughing for some unknown reason.

Rufus Shinra was staring at them with something in his eyes that could only be described as madness – and no, it wasn't the same insanity, caused by years and years of experimentation either. No, it was the type of insanity that was born out of despair – and hopelessness, which was shining through his watery blue eyes.

Eyes, that returned to watching something Shinra held in his hand - a PHS, they recognized after another moment. How had they missed that one?

"We're all dead," Rufus said, shaken by another fit of laughter, "all dead ...dead and gone... soon." He murmured then made a cooing sound that turned into a silly imitation of something they realized as a self-destruction timer sound Shinra used for their most expensive equipment to keep if from enemy-hands.

"The reactor," Cloud whispered, "it's going to explode." His voice was inaudible for all but him and Sephiroth's enhanced hearing, which made them aware of low rumbling noises coming from the ground around them. It was like somebody had used a quake spell, but too far away to really having an effect here.

In a hurry they headed towards the upstairs only to freeze again, at the sight of Cloud's motorcycle, realizing that they didn't have the time to take it with them.

"We need to go," Sephiroth said, then put a hand on his lover's shoulder, somehow sensing the younger man's sad mood.

"I know." Cloud nodded, somehow knowing that the only way to get out of here in time was by using their wings. They would be stupid trying to take something as big as Fenrir with them that way, too, yet, he wished he didn't have to leave it behind and never see it again.

It was foolish to feel that way for just a machine, a thing, but he couldn't help it.

"I just can't help it." He muttered, then shook his head trying to convince himself that it was just a machine – only that wasn't all what it was. No, Fenrir was the only thing besides his swords and the clothes on his back that had been truly his.

"I can help you," Jenova's voice interrupted then, sensing her youngest son's sadness that he had to leave without his beloved motorcycle – and a way for her to prove what he meant to her, even if it was just about a simple thing.

"How?" Cloud asked, wondering what she could possible do against an out of control Mako reactor, most specifically since she was little more than a spirit anymore – almost a ghost that existed only in their heads as far as he knew.

He heard her chuckle in response. "There's still a little piece left from my body," she reminded him softly, "I could use it to help you, my son."

"The box." Cloud said, suddenly remembering the box he took from Shinra back in Midgar's remains. Excited he went over to his motorcycle to retrieve the box. "You can do something with this?" He frowned, sharing the same thought with Sephiroth.

"Yes," she answered, "but you need to add Mako mixed with a few drops of your blood."

"Oh, right." They agreed, turning around to make a run to the lab, where surely should be some Mako have been left.

"Hurry!" She urged them on, telling them to work faster because she could sense the danger getting closer to them, their time running out here.

Then, they did as she explained, and watched as her remains changed into something completely different after dropping Mako on it. It changed into something familiar, a Materia – a Summon Materia, yet it felt nothing like a ordinary summon, because it felt way too alive for that. It was awesome, but Cloud couldn't help but wonder about it, asking himself why she hadn't pulled that up earlier.

"Now, that's very simple," she whispered,"it's because I needed both of you for this to work – and you need to do more."

Cloud pulled the materia out of the box. "You need both our energy to activate it right?"

She hummed in affirmation, asking them to hurry so they between their hands – and reached out to the materia to activate it.

At first nothing happened, but then something changed and glowing figure appeared in front of them, which could be only Jenova – _Mothe_r. She looked nothing like she had while being kept in that Mako pod by Hojo. No, this … Jenova was different,as beautiful as she was powerful. Cloud shivered, now understanding why people had called her a goddess, even the ones who called her Calamity … because she caused death to them. Only now, he couldn't sense any darkness in her, which was confusing but he, they didn't have any time for that now. Blinking he pushed that thought away and tried to concentrate on what she's telling them to do.

"Go, my children," she said, urging them to take seat on Cloud's motorcycle as fast they could.

"Where, Mother?" They asked in unison, unsure how to proceed because there were walls all around them and they could go nowhere this way without taking the motorcycle out of the building.

"There," she said softly," see, Mother made it possible." And indeed, there was something in front of them that looked suspiciously like what a warp or teleport spell would create, only way much larger – this one was large enough to fit a motorcycle through, including passengers.

"Now, go already," she said while seeing their questioning looks at her making no move to come with them. "I will join you soon enough." Jenova explained with a crooked smile, which turned into a full fledged one as she watched them finally do as she said.

Yes, she would join her children soon enough, but for now she had something to do, because nobody tried to take what was of hers … and get away unpunished, besides she was curious why this one fought so strongly while knowing that he hadn't a single chance to win.

_Yes, a girl gotta have some fun, too. _

She hummed happily, then vanished from the scene, to … reappear somewhere else, to get some answers to her questions or – maybe – at least she would have a little fun after all these boring centuries.

* * *

_Thank you for reading,_

_Mia_


	11. Ripples form on the surface

**Chapter Ten **of Whispers about Angels

**Disclaimer:** FFVII nor its characters belong to me, for more see prequel. 

**Warnings:** bad language, a wee bit of violence, insanity

* * *

_**Ripples form on the surface** _

* * *

It was dark, too dark for him to see much of the room they had dropped him in. Not that it mattered anyway, but it would've been nice to be able to look at something, even if it was only to occupy his mind with something other than his eminent death. The silence all around wasn't helping either, but it add up enough for him to assume that his captors were gone for good, leaving him behind to die here in this cursed place.

He was going to die, he was quite certain about that.

The thought of dying didn't bother him as much as it probably should, but he had lived with the knowledge that he was about to die far sooner than he ought to for a long while. it wasn't like he could leave this place any time soon. Well, not soon enough that it would matter anyway, but if the chance of getting out of this should occur he'd not declined to take it; he'd be a fool otherwise, well more than he already was at that.

Oh, he knew that Strife and Sephiroth could be still around, somehow, trying to do things he didn't care to understand, but that was highly unlikely.

They were gone, Rufus was sure about that; instinct told him so. The Mansion felt too quiet, too still for them being still in it. No, they'd be probably long gone and far enough from here to be affected of the Mako. The Mako, now that was probably a stupid idea to come up with, with the way those two were full with that stuff until they leaked green liquid, but at the time he hadn't been able to think of any other emergency plan to secure Sephiroth's body. Well, that had been wrong, too, and it had turned out that it had been more that his mere body.

Admitting being wrong … was hard for him. Worse, to accept it a second time, especially since he had meant to help people this time. Geostigma was a serious issue and he had been taking chances just to be able to produce a cure, even if said chances were as low as that. It wasn't like they had so many options on this issue, yet, he now knew he should have known better than to make a deal with the devil.

He had done his best to distance himself from his father and his previous self to start repaying the debt ShinRa owed the world for its past ill deeds. Too bad he couldn't continue there now.

Rufus sighed in an uncharacteristic gesture of defeat, because there was nothing he could do … anymore. Worse, it it was all his fault, because he hadn't be able to keep his mouth shut about this. He had acted like a fool once again and now he was paying for it with his life, not that that was all that much worth with the fucking Geostigma eating up his body from the inside out.

He shifted a little from one side to the other and back again to figure out the most comfortable position to wait for what he knew would be only mere minutes … until everything would end for him.

These minutes … tasted like eternity – and he hated waiting, no matter how patient he could be otherwise if it was necessary. One, two, he started counting, getting up to twenty, then to thirty, forty, fifty, yet nothing changed. Another moment passed, then another, until he started questioning if his backup plan had somehow failed to do what it was supposed to do as well. It surely had felt the logical thing to do when he set it up, thinking it would destroy any intruder and leave no usable clues behind what had been kept in the reactor. Sure, destroying Nibelheim was a big drawback, but to someone like Rufus Shinra it had seemed like a necessary sacrifice to prevent something far worse from happening in turn, like destroying the world.

He wanted to laugh out loud, but forced it back in time. Rufus knew it would sound hysterical and desperate, which he kind of was, but he didn't want to show it, even if he was all alone here, how bad it really was. Well, as long he could pretend to be calm there was a chance that he would survive this one as well, right?

Another long moment with nothing happening and him still breathing, which was great of course, but for the growing sense of dread in the air.

Nothing changed but then, another little eternity something did finally happen. Although it wasn't what he had been waiting for.

* * *

"Hello." A voice said, hollowing through the nearly empty room around him. It also quite effectively interrupted Rufus gloomy thoughts at that and made him look up in order to find the origin of this voice. It was female, he noticed, certainly a female voice, he thought, but he couldn't remember of ever having heard it before.

He blinked, wondering if he was imagining things in the dark of the empty room around him. There was a reason the local residents thought the Mansion to be haunted after all, even if it was mostly because of Hojo's experimenting done in the original basement.

He couldn't see anything, but wait, there was something off, he thought, frowning at a greenish light that had appeared ext to the entrance. Then the light changed, taking the form of a glowing woman … making him think that she must be a summon, but that only made it worse, cause he couldn't remember any summon that looked the way she did.

Yet, this wasn't like any summon he'd ever heard of, which meant a lot after being heir of Shinra all his life.

"Huh?" Rufus muttered, unable to come up with an logical explanation for something he couldn't explain, but too tired to feel any fear just now. He knew he was about to die soon enough and the time he'd spend in torture because of this sickness and the Weapon's attack made everything else pale in comparison.

"Who are you?" He asked instead of trying to force his tired brain to come up with something intelligent to say. His voice sounded cold and aloof, but that was only because he didn't have anything to lose anymore. Rufus was going to die anyway, even if rather didn't if he could help it, but if he was to go down that way, he rather not be annoyed by freakish ghosts disturbing his last few minutes alive.

"Do you greet your mother the same way?" The voice replied, sounding somewhere between displeased and very pleased, which should be impossible, but this wasn't what caused to sent shivers down the president's back.

"My Mother? My mother has been dead for many years now." Rufus answered then froze, realizing just now who was talking to him, even if he knew that it should be impossible because she was dead, killed when Strife and his friends when they had stopped the crisis caused by the alien bitch's son.

She looked nothing like she ought to, Rufus thought, frowning at the idea of her … looking so human, yet not quite.

In the pictures, he'd seen of her she had always looked more like a fragment than a real person; like something that ought to be dead, but somehow wasn't. More so, she had always looked incomplete, unfinished for one or other reason, something which had been only more enhanced by the fact that she had been missing parts of her extremities, added tentacles that seemed off somehow and her wings had looked deformed and damaged. She'd been scary in a haunted way; a being that was not quite 'there', like she had been in stasis of eternal sleep, yet somehow aware, staring at you with unseeing eyes that never changed, never moved, but glowed with unholy fire.

Now, she looked almost like any other person, he'd ever seen, aside from her abnormal colouring and the tell-tale wings attached to her back. There were two of them, the one on her left side was covered with black feathers, much like Sephiroth's wing was. The other one was quite different: covered with white scales with a dusty pale blue finish, like they were covered by rime. He also noticed that she was slightly transparent and glowing like a summon creature would do.

"She is, isn't she?" She nodded, moving closer until there were only a few centimetres left between them. "It's sad." Jenova stated a moment later, her voice becoming strained with some undefined emotion, then frowned at the human in front of her.

"Do you miss her … much? Tell me, human." She insisted in a near purr. "Tell me how does it feel … to lose everything you care for?"

It sounded almost harmlessly curious, yet there was a sinister feel to it, almost like she wanted Rufus to feel lulled into thinking she meant it well with him. Well, she didn't, which was quite obvious to anybody with eyes to see.

She took on a stance, far too reminiscent of Sephiroth to be comforting; tall and elegant. It reminded him of when he'd been the Silver General and not stark raving mad. She stood way too calm there, looking every bit like a Soldier, even wearing an uniform like one, almost like Sephiroth's but instead of leather coat she wore a simple shirt. Rufus couldn't see any weapon on her, only armor and the soft flow of hair that went almost to her ankles. Short um she looked everything as regal as her famous son did, and similar disturbing – no more with those burning eyes of hers.

"What do you want from me?" He asked, ignoring the weird questioning of hers, even if doing so seemed to bring him more pain. He endured that too, because he was too tired to play along with whatever game she played. Hers surely seemed like one of those games he didn't give a damn about, even if he had no clue about why she acted like she did. Maybe she just liked to play with him, like a cat would with a mouse before killing it – or being more cruel leaving it behind, slowly dying.

"What do I want?" She purred softly, daring him to say something then grimaced in distaste, pausing for a moment or two while getting closer to him, until she was close enough to touch him.

"Everything." She whispered into his ear, "My home, my family ... everything, you've stolen from me. I want it back." She smiled at him, while eyeing the many band aids he was covered in. Raising a brow, she poked at his shoulder, which in turn had him wince in pain, although he refused to let her humiliate him more than necessary.

"I've done nothing of that sort." He glared at her as much he still was able to. "I wasn't even born then." Rufus added, figuring she was talking about something that happened in her past – and also trying to appeal to the obvious common sense that he couldn't probably responsible for something so long before his time, ever. She had been a corpse when he had been not more but a thought in his mother's mind, right?

"I didn't steal anything from you." He added, against better thought, trying to reason with her – mostly because it bugged him to be accused of things he hadn't done; couldn't have probably done, ever.

It didn't help, as expected, because her smile just became wider.

"Yes, you have, little human," Jenova replied in a singsong like voice. "Beings like you always take, but never give. You're vermin." She shook her head in an absent-minded gesture. "I don't even know why I'm bothering with you."

"Why then bother with me?" Rufus queried, cursing inwardly for deserving such a fate as being bugged by an vengeful alien for something he had no control about. Oh, of course, he knew he was blamed for a lot of things by a lot of people, but this was just stupid.

Of course, he had been a fool way too long, believing what he'd been taught all his life. He had hated his father even back then, even for other reasons, but now he could feel only disgust at the man, who sired him. His father had been probably the biggest fool to have ever lived to have let someone like Hojo free reign to conjure disaster on such a magnitude for the sake for finding something they had no proof of existing. He didn't doubt that his old man had been clinically insane or maybe he had not, which was just so much worse.

"Why? Maybe," she cooed, "maybe I'm just curious about the Planet killing its own beings." Her voice also had lost its melancholy feel, and her expression had turned to something colder than ice. Somehow he got the feeling that Jenova couldn't be quite sane either, since shifting through emotions like that couldn't be anything close to being healthy.

He looked up, gazing at her glowing form, with mixed emotions, but no fear. No, after accepting his own death to correct his mistake, he was beyond that, but he was certainly confused and slightly curious on how she managed to take on this form after being practically dead for years now.

"Oh, really?" Rufus muttered finally in an attempt to keep her talking – and wondering if the Mako would ever reach the town, which actually should have already happened, but wasn't for reason unknown.

"Yes, really," Jenova whispered, then reached out to touch one of the black marks that were littering his skin. "Do these hurt?" Her voice purred, relishing in the pain her touch caused even if Shinra tried to hide any outward sign of it. Oh, how foolish, she thought, because she knew already all there was to know about this _thing_ her people had released into the world, but no, they weren't her people anymore. They had come up with this curse only to get rid of her. She tilted her head, listening to something only she heard then nodded.

"You know, I really don't like beings, trying to take what is mine. I never did." Her voice turned into a soft humming of some kind of lullaby. There was nothing calming to it, though, more like the treacherous feel of frost-burn lulling one in false safety. "They need to be punished," she muttered softly, more to herself than to the man in front of her, then giggled in soft sing-sang-like way.

"So, you want the world in return, and since you failed to do that, destroy it for your revenge?" He asked a question on his own, something he'd always wanted to ask, but it was kind of moot back then with her being an alien life-form, which didn't talk to a mere human like him, especially not to a Shinra.

"The world?" She frowned, cocking her head in a birdlike gesture, then shook her head. "No, I just want my children. That's what I always have wanted, but they never understood..." Then for a moment her eyes became clear, without the usual madness that was lurking there. Instead they were filled with a feeling of loss and emptiness – the red becoming a dull red, like a dying star would look like.

"I only wanted my children to be happy," she said," but they took them away, used them against me and made them believe lies over lies again and again." Jenova's stared at something only she could see, thus ignoring the dying man at her feet, like he didn't exist. "I don't want to destroy the Planet, but I suppose I don't have any choice, because it wants to eradicate me … and everything that is mine. I won't allow things to be taken away again, not like the poor little Cetra did." She giggled at that, not acknowledging that she had been a Cetra herself once. "Did them little good in the end, now did it?"

"They? The Ancients? I thought you killed them." Rufus interrupted, staring at her with wide eyes. He thought he knew everything there was to know about the Ancients' demise, but obviously he had been wrong once again. That was, if he could believe her, which was doubtful at best.

"I?" She giggled louder at that, before shaking her head once more. "No, I didn't kill them, little human. They did that well-enough by themselves. Thought they could remove me from their equation, but instead they removed themselves."

Rufus stared at her, a strange expression on his face, because he felt like he could almost understand her, but didn't want to, because it was wrong – and understanding her would mean that she was more than an evil entity they had to destroy for the Planet's sake.

"I will leave now, human," she whispered softly, shaking her head in a gesture that could be disapproval or something other, undefined. "Don't fret, your people will be here soon enough."

"My people?" Rufus repeated, frowned at the information then nodded, thinking that she must mean his Turks. They would be looking for him, which was their job among other things. Only, now he didn't know if he wanted them here or not, since there wasn't much they could do other than risk their lives for the fool of a boss he'd been to them, even if it had been out of hoping to find a cure for this hellish disease.

"Yes," Jenova answered, "maybe they get to you in time and rescue you, maybe not. Tell them hello from Mother if they do, would you?" She laughed at this, a sound so sweet yet somehow chilling, like frozen nitrogen and sweet candy at once.

A moment later she was gone, almost like she had never been here at all, like she had been an illusion his dying body had conjured because of the sheer boredom of waiting for his own death.

No, he decided, she most certainly had been real, whether she had been physically here or just an illusion, caused by the damned Geostigma.

He couldn't be certain about anything with the condition he was in, but Jenova had been dead for about five years now, hadn't she been? He shivered, unsure if he wanted to believe that she had been an apparition that his fragile mind had constructed or if he wanted to believe that she had been really here … and accept the consequences of the latter option of her being alive and kicking – kind of.

Tiredly he sank back down to the same position he'd been in before, and maybe he'd be waiting for the end – even if a tiny part of him still held hope that his Turks would find him in time while another part of him hoped they wouldn't see him defeated like this.

* * *

xox

* * *

Outside, a little earlier and not all too far from the sleepy mountain town there was some uproar on an approaching airship, which had been started when Mt Nibel had come into view. There was a weird green glow coming from it, which shouldn't be there at all.

"What the f**x§!&%!" Cid shouted at the sight that greeted him there from the mountain range, where Mako seemed to pool down from Mt. Nibel, looking like a sick perversion of a river eating everything in its way instead of nourishing it. The reactor, he thought, it had to come from that fucking Mako reactor up there. Worse now, it seemed to be heading for good ol' Nibelheim to swallow it up in its wake.

"Mako, lots of Mako, old man." Reno answered the obvious, snorting softly. "The real question would be why it's there and not where it belongs to." He sounded as always, but anybody, who really knew him could tell that he was worried about this development, mostly because it probably meant that the boss was desperate enough to try something suicidal like causing a chain-reaction in a Mako reactor. It sounded crazy, yet he knew the Boss well enough that he would try something like that if the situation called for it, even if that meant that innocent people dying with him.

"Something must have happened at the reactor," Vincent said thoughtfully, "or more specifically somebody must have rigged a chain-reaction for the reactor to explode." The ex-turk eyed the two turks at this right side for a moment with a knowing glance, telling them without words that he knew that they knew more than they probably should on this.

"Or a bomb," Reno added drily, causing Vincent to look at him in an unspecified way, before nodding in return.

"Or a bomb," the gun-slinger said, "but the real question is what we're going to do about it."

"Whatever, we have to do something … fast." Tifa replied, pointing at the direction the Mako was heading to, directly to Nibelheim. "I might not like those people there or what Shinra did our town, but we can't let this happening again." She shivered at the idea of her home-town destroyed a second time, even if this time there was no fire to deal with.

"We can't let it reach the town." She continued, already checking their equipment for something useful to stop this disaster from happening. "There had to be something here..."

"Hmm, you mean this?" Yuffie grinned at the elemental materia in her hand. "Should work, shouldn't it? I mean all we need is the right timing and whoosh - the bad Mako will be been gone from where it shouldn't be! Right?"

"Yuffie..." The martial-fighter frowned at this, then nodded, knowing that it'll be their best bet to solve this, even it won't be the piece of cake the younger girl was suggesting. She looked up only to find Barret looking grim, but gruffing his agreement to what the young ninja had suggested.

"All right, we do it." Tifa agreed, nodding slowly, unsure if what the younger girl suggested would work, but she didn't have any better idea.

The ninja nodded, then picked up two other materia to help with their goal. "I think these would work nicely, don't you think?" Yuffie practically beamed at that, grinning like pirate of sorts, well, maybe a pirate-girl, which was kind of ironic considering how easily she got sea-sick to be a proper pirate at that.

"Nicely?" Barret interrupted, sounding a bit on the hysterical side at the idea of using said materia like Yuffie had suggested, which was kind of paradox since he had agreed at first. "You gotta kidding me, usin' Materia on that much Mako? It'll gonna blow up all aroun' us if we're gonna try that madness!"

"Shish, Barret," Yuffie said, sounding unusual grim at this. "I know, it's dangerous, but we're not going to use the materia directly on the Mako, but on the ground next to it." She glared at him in frustration, because, well, she was full aware how dangerous her plan was, but there was no other choice if they wanted to have any chance to achieve what they wanted at all, so why couldn't he see that?

"Yeah, and that's gonna make a big difference?" He eyed her critically, like trying to decipher if he could trust the sneaky ninja on this topic or not. It wasn't exactly impractically to double-check everything the little thief said, but the girl usually knew her way if it came to battle, well, usually.

"Yeah, we do." She nodded, then shook her head in frustration at the thick-headed man. "You gotta have a better idea, big man?"

"Um, no." He admitted, sounding a bit sheepish at it, because he couldn't come up with something better, even if he had no wish to blow themselves up just because they were desperate to stop the Mako from hitting Nibelheim. He didn't particular care for Rufus Shinra either, but there was a small chance that their wayward leader was there as well.

"Seems that means we do it her way." Vincent said, thus interrupting the discussion to usher them along to finally start working on realizing their plan into reality. He took the barrier and ice materia to equip them himself with a smirk, that told a lot of how much he thought about the others materia skills in precision with these materia.

"Yuffie, you take the Quake materia, since it was your plan." He waited until everybody was prepared then nodded, to get this thing started.

This thing, their crazy plan of theirs did work actually in the end, even if it didn't go exactly as Yuffie had been suggesting it would. It did afford several precisely directed spells to create a rift and then use barrier and ice to keep the Mako going into the direction they wanted it to go – away from Nibelheim. There was still a lot damage – lots actually. A lot of land had been practically drowned in Mako and it would take probably years to recover from it, maybe longer, including the expected monster-rate because of the radiation.

Casting so many spells in such a short time also left them quite tired, but it was worth it in the end, not only because it saved the town but because otherwise any traces of Cloud and Rufus would have been lost as well.

Although, there was a strange foreboding feeling to it when they finally entered the town. It was mostly the silence there, even with people giving their visitors curious looks this time. They didn't approach them, though, and turned out to be of little help with their search as they seemed to know of no visitors coming to their town lately.

"It's like a fucking ghost town," Cid muttered in response to the nearly apathetic behaviour of Nibelheim's residents. "Yes, it is." He continued muttering curses, while feverish wishing for a good cup of tea so he could forget about the whole mess here.

"No, it's not." Vincent said quietly, gesturing towards all the people lurking behind closed windows, but didn't dare to come out of their homes because they obviously feared for their very lives.

"What?" Cid gawked at the tall gun-slinger to his side, almost losing the cigarette he'd been drawing on to calm his upset nerves. Whatever it was, this place almost made want to leave as soon as possible, which didn't made any sense, but then it seemed like every mess started in this god-forsaken place.

"It's not a ghost town." Vincent replied in the same calm tone as before. "It's not a town at all."

"Not a town?" Barret asked confused, unable to follow the ex-turk's thoughts. "What are ye talkin' about ye fool?"

"No, it's a charade, made up to look like a town, but it isn't one. At least not quite yet." Vincent made a noise, that almost sounded like a sigh. "Sometimes a lie becomes truth if you live it long enough." He smiled at that, so softly that most people wouldn't catch it at all, but the sadness in his red eyes was more than clear enough for everybody to see, who knew him well enough.

"Uh, yeah." Both Cid and Barret looked at each other in similar confusion, unsure what to make out of these strange words.

"It does?" A forth voice interrupted them, sounding curious but with a humorous undertone. "So, wouldn't that make them meaningless if they're the same thing? "

"Sometimes it does, yes." Vincent nodded, eyeing Reno with a knowing look, then shrugged and turned around, facing the Shinra Mansion. "Whether they're lies or truth, we should find our answers over there."

And indeed, he was right, because it was the most obvious place in Nibelheim to look for, so they went ahead and went for the Shinra Mansion on the other side of the town. The place looked the same as always, maybe minus its resident monsters.

"No worries there, yo." Reno chuckled a bit at seeing the others looking out for monsters around him. Well, all except his partner Reno and a certain dark-haired ex-turk. "There's no more monsters here. We made sure about that."

Sadly, there was also no visible trace of their friend Cloud, so they did the only thing they could: searching the Mansion's basement. They entered the library, which looked as empty as the upper rooms aside from lots of dust covering the books there. Strangely the floor was almost clean, which looked a bit out of place, but it was obvious now that the place wasn't as abandoned as Shinra wanted to make believe anyone.

* * *

There were traces of footsteps visible to anyone with eyes to see, although, they were too many to be of any help in their search.

Yes, those footsteps could belong to anybody, but just then they were interrupted by Nanaki suddenly stopping, sniffing the floor only to give the floor a hard look, which would be a frown on a human being.

"What's wrong, Nanaki?" Tifa asked, watching the her friend intensely.

"Cloud," the flame-lion said, "he has been here." His frown deepened at that, like he wasn't sure of what he was sensing here or whom. It caused multiple responses from his friends, expressing their relief about being on the right trail – but then relief turned into suspicion because they noticed how upset Nanaki seemed to be.

"There's more, isn't it?" Vincent asked, knowing from the his friend's behaviour that there had to be more to his words than just this. Nanaki wasn't easily upset without some very good reason.

"Sephiroth's with him." He growled in response, like he didn't want to believe what he just said. He sighed a moment later, accepting what he had sensed even if he didn't like it. "At least I think it is him." He added in a thoughtful voice, because it was more than a bit off from what he had scented in the past. It was like he remembered Sephiroth's scent during the Crisis, but this was different somehow, richer because how closely it was mixed with his friend's scent at that.

It was too intimate, too.

It was like the scent of mating, but it couldn't be, because what reason could two males have in wanting to mate with each other? There weren't any young to expect from that, after all, but then again he had witnessed humans doing things for absurd reasons he didn't even dare trying to understand. Yet, he still was unsure about it, which was why he kept quiet about this part.

"Sephiroth." Vincent repeated in a toneless voice, that belied nothing of the disbelief his friends felt around him, not that they hadn't half expected this answer after all the times the One-winged Angel managed to return time after time. Of course, they should have expected something like that, after listening to Kadaj, but they had been too focused on getting Cloud and Rufus back to think about it more than moment or two.

Well, most of they gasped in reaction anyway, but Vincent, who just nodded slowly thus adding this puzzle piece to the slowly more complicated getting puzzle he was completing inside his mind.

"Figures, that's why Cloud was heading here," the ex-turk said after another moment of shocked silence, speaking out what everybody feared, too.

"Makes sense in an awful way." "But why?" "How?" and other questions followed until they died down enough for them to continue their search, even if meant that things would probably turn much worse than they had hoped.

"Where's Cait Sith?" Yuffie asked, sounding suddenly very worried. "He had been right here, just a second ago, hadn't he been?" She gestured wildly, looking around but failed to see the robotic cat anywhere in the Library they were standing for what just felt like way too long for her sense of patience.

The others stared at her, looking at her mostly with expressions of different degrees of confusion – and their answers also ranging from 'Huh' to 'I don't know', which made it quite obvious that they couldn't see him either.

Well, two of their group did not, Nanaki, a certain dark-haired gun-slinger – and maybe Rude, but that was only because he never showed any sign of confusion or surprise. He was pretty much like stonewalling everything that came his way, no matter if it was dragons, wayward experiments or his companions acting strange. Sometimes you could almost think he was a machine or something, but then he showed his odd sense of humour, time after time; well, along protecting his obnoxious loud partner.

"He is over there, Yuffie," Vincent said finally and thus breaking the moment of confused silence. His voice, however held far more humour than usually, accompanied by something that could be almost a chuckle. "He's busy calming some dorky faces over there. Those seem to be quite frantic for some reason." He gestured towards table on the shelf on the far east side of the room.

At first all they could do was was stare at him, spouting less than intelligent face expressions before figured out that Vincent was quite right: the little robotic cat was trying to calm several frantic looking random battle monsters. He also looked like he would to very little children, no matter how silly that looked when talking about this critters. Especially if said critters looked like a cross of orange fluffy balls and those pumpkins people use carve in faces for the holiday of All Hollows Eve. They're were rather weak compared to most other random battle monsters, but they could wield lighting and hang out in rather large groups.

"They're very afraid," Nanaki explained, "because they have been left alone here. I think they believe they're about to die. Cait' Sith was trying to convince them that the danger has passed and they were free to go, although with little success I fear, seeing how they're sticking to him."

"They're rather cute." Yuffie giggled at the sight then frowned, wondering how they would continue their search with those things tagging along. "But they're going to slow us down, aren't they?" She torn between feeling sorry for those things and annoyed that they weren't smart enough to flee the place if they were that scared of something. They could practically fly, well float, but the idea's the same, so why didn't they … leave?

"No, they won't." Vincent disagreed, "cause Cait Sith is going to babysit them here while we continue our search down the basement."

* * *

Author's notes:

* * *

_Well, I hope this explained some of Jenova's backstory here in this AU, which is quite different to canon. She really is or more so was a Cetra but changed because of something fell from the stars. __Title is a quote from Loveless._  


_I hope to be able to get the next chapter much much faster than this. :(_

_Sorry, for the huge delay, but have no worry I am continuing this and most of my other stories here._


End file.
